Whether slugging or sluggish, nobody can stop him

July 29, 2005|Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist

The Red Sox are in a bind. They can trade Manny Ramirez, which apparently might make him happy, but they are unlikely to get commensurate value and that's not going to satisfy fans hungry for another magical October. They can bench Manny or publicly embarrass him, and risk alienating their petulant star, which might make him stop trying all together. Or they can do what they always do -- look the other way, continue to kiss his butt, and hope he resumes knocking in more runs than anyone in baseball.

This is what happens when you have a savant slugger with the maturity of a 12-year-old who has a guaranteed contract worth $160 million (three years and $57 million remaining).

And most of the fans don't care as long as Manny keeps driving in runs. Assuming Ramirez is still on the team and back in the lineup tonight, you can bet he'll been greeted like Charles Lindbergh when he takes his place in left field on the Fenway lawn -- proving again that it's impossible to insult Red Sox fans as long as you produce.

Ah yes, it's just Manny being Manny, and isn't he cute?

Let's make a distinction and divide Manny Moments into two categories: the goofy stuff and his crimes against baseball.

In the former category, we have stunts such as urinating inside the left-field wall during mid-inning, occasionally forgetting the number of outs, requesting a song with obscene lyrics to accompany his plate appearances, and sometimes turning routine outs into blooper reels. All of the above are harmless and contribute to Manny's playful persona. He's very engaging with fans and does nothing to bring attention to himself in the clubhouse.

And then we have the latter. These are episodes that hurt the team, such as not running out the ground ball in the 10th inning against Tampa Bay Tuesday night, then refusing to play the next day when his team needed him. It's similar to the situation in 2003 when Manny blew off a doctor's appointment at Fenway the morning after he was seen socializing with Yankee Enrique Wilson -- then refusing to pinch hit when Grady Little needed him in Philadelphia the next day.

These occurrences should not be explained away as ''Manny being Manny." The guy is the highest-paid player on the team (and second only to Alex Rodriguez in baseball). Is routine hustle too much to ask? What about raising your hand to help out when other teammates are playing hurt and extending themselves to win a ballgame?

In Gordon Edes's fine column on these pages yesterday, an anonymous Manny teammate said, ''You guys never hold him accountable. I've never seen a guy get such a free pass. You all think it's a joke, 'Manny being Manny.' What is 'Manny being Manny?' Him disrespecting the game?"