Manny Part II

Checkmate

Theres only one move.

You know what it is.
He's sitting out there. Looming. Waiting for the impossible to happen.

It could happen. Nothing is ever over when its just business. It can be worked out. Parameters, stipulations. Its the perfect storm.

The Red Sox have to go get Manny Ramirez.

Its insanity, its so far out of the realm that no one wants to even say it out loud, but the Yankees just signed the second best bat on the market for the highest dollars out there.

Manny at 20 mil per year for 3 years...

We were ready to do it for 2 if he hadn't opened his big mouth.

Now truth be told its almost a done deal that Manny is going to the Dodgers,its just how much Boras can bluff them into paying. But if Boras is truly the master he realizes that an enormous market just opened back up with the Yankees grabbing Teixiera, and the best part is, Manny has already played in it before.
If John Henry is truly the businessman I think he is, he realizes value when he sees it. He was trumped by Cashman this time. His move of pulling out on Thursday night was tremendous and it almost worked, tipping Boras' hand when it looked like he held all the cards.

But Boras still had one up his sleeve. The deck was loaded and Henry didn't even know it.

Now Henry is backed into a corner with only one possible shot at a win.

The contract could have clauses in it. Incentives for games played, incentives for MVP performances, "good citizen" clauses where if he makes it through a season without a benching for "good cause" triggers another 500,000.

Sure he's a pain in the ass. Sure he pushes 70 year old guys and may be a closet racist (remember "white devils"? Not enough to call him a bigot? Okay, he's a "brown devil". Yeah, pretty bad) but he can hit, he can hit better than anyone i've ever seen.

Make no mistake about it, Mark Teixiera cannot hold Manny Ramirez' hair net when it comes to putting a wooden bat on a cowksin ball. He can hit, yes, he cannot hit like Manny. Manny can hit anyone, at any time, ever. What he does when the heat is on is even more amazing. Need a hit to keep you alive against the best closer in baseball? Manny steps up and lets K Rod know that he, not anyone else, is a bad man.

Make no mistake about it. I cannot personally stand Manny Ramirez. I accepted his stupidty and immaturity and complete lack of class for 6 years because the man could hit. When he shoved Jack McCormick the 70 year old ex-police officer and veteran he lost me. It was a disgusting display from a disgusting person. And when he quit on the team my digust dug in even further, but there are two things that allow me to cheer for him to put on a Red Sox uniform again:

1. Everyone screws up. Sincere regret and an illustration that ways have changed go a long way.
2. Why punish myself because he's a jackass?

The guy acts like a jerk and we are shortchanged even further? Wouldnt the ultimate punishment be to come back, hat in hand, and have to play here again, admitting that the "insulting" and "disrespectful" 20 million per year by the "white devils" was actually his market value?

I can think of no bigger masterstroke to trump the Yankees except for the impending image of Hank Steinbrenner driving to Washington in his Prius asking President Obama to bail out the Yankees.

Don't do it Barry, I see you with that White Sox hat on