Saying Goodbye to Mannywood
August 30, 2010 at 8:34 am | Posted in Manny Ramirez | 35 Comments
Say this for the 2+ years Manny Ramirez spent in Dodger blue: it was never boring. He was, at various points, both the most beloved Dodger we’ve seen in years (late 2008, when everyone had Manny-branded blue dreadlocks) and the most reviled (mid-2009, when he was suspended for PEDs and every self-righteous twit with a media pass fell over themselves to vilify him). It’s hard, if not impossible, to recall another Dodger who ran the spectrum of emotions quite like he did.
When the trade was made, we were ecstatic. (Personally, I remember exactly the moment I heard: I was on tour with a band I was playing with, and we were eating at a floating restaurant in the middle of the river between Cincinnati and Kentucky. I received a text message saying the Dodgers had acquired Manny but the return was unsure, and I replied with “Great! Don’t be Kemp Don’t be Kemp Don’t be Kemp”.)
Bill Plaschke status: not a huge fan of the trade right when it was made.
It wasn’t Kemp, of course; it was Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris. That seemed like a pretty good deal at the time, as LaRoche had yet to prove himself and Morris was injured. It seems like a steal now, since LaRoche has just a .641 OPS in parts of three seasons in Pittsburgh and Morris has only made it to AA for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Manny was a king; his ridiculous 1.232 OPS to finish 2008 with the Dodgers was only the 6th best season by OPS+ (minimum 225 plate appearances) in the history of the National League. In the playoffs, he hit over .500 with 4 homers as the Dodgers went to the NLCS.
As good as that was, it seemed even better to us coming as it did immediately after the crushing failures of Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre. Manny was a hero in Los Angeles that fall, and here’s how we felt about him at the time, in our 2008 season in review:
Manny was simply everything we could have hoped for and so much more. He had the best offensive stretch in Dodger history and it’s kind of ironic and twisted that one of the other reasons we were able to land him was due to our center fielder having the worst stretch in Dodger history. But even if Manny doesn’t come back and jettisons to another team, I will always be thankful to the man for what he brought to the team, to the city, and to all of us. Unforgettable.
Manny was a free agent after 2008, and if that had been that, our lives might all have been different right now. But the thought of seeing him over a full season was too much; after what he’d done in a partial year in 2008, couldn’t he hit about 120 homers over a full year?
Bill Plaschke status, last week of the 2008 season: don’t resign Manny.
So the Dodgers, intoxicated by Manny’s production, couldn’t let him move on, and for all of his bluster, Scott Boras wasn’t going to take Manny away from a place where he’d rebuilt his image after his ugly exit from Boston. Anyone remember how painful that process was? Here’s what I said when he finally signed in March of 2009:
In November, the Dodgers offered 2/$45. He wanted 5 or 6 years at $100m+. Not only did Boras not even get them to meet in the middle, he ended up settling for… 2/$45m. While getting that much annual salary in this economy is still a feat, it’s still far less than he’d originally demanded.
Sure, it’s all worth adding a hitter like Manny to the lineup, and when he’s pummeling homers in May we won’t care. But there’s only one thing worse than watching millionaires argue with millionaires in the face of a terrible economy… and that’s watching them do it for four months only to end up with nearly the exact same terms that were on the table in November. This whole process was completely brutal for all of us.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “damn, I don’t miss that entire winter of watching Boras and the Dodgers go back and forth. But wasn’t there something else that made it especially painful?” Oh, that’s right. Jamie McCourt had to help matters and open her big mouth with gems like these:
“If you bring somebody in to play and pay them, pick a number, $30 million, does that seem a little weird to you?” Jamie McCourt asked in an interview at the Evergreen Recreation Center in East Los Angeles. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We’re really trying to see it through the eyes of our fans. We’re really trying to understand, would they rather have the 50 fields?”
Seriously, I read that post of mine for the first time since then, and it made my blood boil again. Remember, Dodger fans: Jamie McCourt says that if you want your team to sign free agents, you hate children.
Bill Plaschke status, during negotiations: don’t sign Manny, get an “ace” like Jake Peavy.
2009 finally began, and Manny got off to a roll. On May 6, he was hitting .348/.492/.641, better than his career averages. Then, on May 7… disaster struck, and I need not remind you why. I’m not going to waste time defending Manny here; he did what he did, he got found out, and he has no one to blame for that but himself. Just like Andy Pettitte, just like Guillermo Mota, just like countless other players. But other than Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who were hammered for various other reasons as well, Manny was hit far more viciously than just about anyone else caught up in the steroid era.
No, I don’t think it’s going too far to say that many mainstream columnists had it out for Manny, and could barely contain their glee when he was suspended. Like, for example, here. And here. And here. Really, that’s what bothered me more than anything. You want to get on Manny for cheating and letting the team down? Sure, that’s fair. I did. But some of these jokers crossed that line by about a thousand miles, as though Manny had set fire to a school of orphans. Who were holding puppies. Adorable puppies.
Bill Plaschke status: practically having a seizure of self-righteousness.
It got worse, though, the longer Manny was out. Juan Pierre stepped in, and was admittedly great… for the first 40% of Manny’s suspension. Then he was worse than ever for the last 60%, but that didn’t seem to matter. Manny was a cheater. Juan played hard. Manny was lazy, and wouldn’t talk to the media. Juan got the most out of his god-given talent. Manny’s numbers couldn’t be trusted. Juan’s numbers didn’t matter, because he had “heart”.
God, I hate the media sometimes.
Bill Plaschke status: steadfastly claiming that he would never go see a Manny rehab game… and then immediately going to a Manny rehab game.
Then Manny returned, and he was a shell of himself from the moment he returned, clearly affected by not being on the juice. That is what happened, right? That’s how I remember the news being reported. What’s that, the facts don’t exactly match the narrative you’ve come up with? Screw it! We’ve got a story to stick to.
Bill Plaschke status: outright inventing stories about Manny disrespecting fans, despite pictures that clearly show the exact opposite.
Well, not quite. Despite the fact that I could link to a million stories claiming that Manny was useless after his return, that’s not exactly how it went down. In fact, I broke it down after the season:
1) Opening Day (4/6) -> Suspension (5/6): .348/.492/.641 1.133
Vintage Manny. Better than his career average, actually, so pretty damned good. I can already hear the squawking that “he was still on the juice!”, but don’t forget: he failed his test in Spring Training – and that for a masking agent, not the actual thing - so while he may have still been on the ride at this point, he was hardly shooting up before games.
2) Suspension (5/7 -> 7/2)
Dick. No question about it. Dick. Not only for “letting us down”, if you feel personally offended, but by robbing the team of its best bat for six weeks – and by adding insult to injury by subjecting us to Juan Pierre during that time. Dick.
3) Return (7/3) -> HBP from Homer Bailey (7/21): .333/.429/.688 1.116
His slightly lower OBP was offset by a bump in SLG, equaling nearly the same OPS as he had before the suspension. I don’t remember anyone complaining that he was no good clean during these two weeks, right?
4) Playing with injured hand (7/22 -> 8/28): .264/.366/.400 .766
Despite constant refusals to admit that taking Bailey’s mid-90s heater off his hand was an issue, Manny was clearly not the same player here. Still, no player ever admits that they’re injured, and if this was related to the juice, he’d have been playing like this as soon as he returned, right? Besides, once he’d had a few weeks since the HBP, presumably healing his hand…
5) End of season stretch (8/29 -> 10/3): .241/.400/.517 .917
…his OBP and SLG perked right up. Granted, the batting average isn’t great. Fortunately, we all know better than to rely on batting average as any sort of indicator, and a .917 OPS is still top 20 if he’d put that up over the entire season.
As you can see, when he wasn’t thrilling the crowd with Bobbleslams, Manny was doing just fine until he got hit in the hand by Homer Bailey. The demonization of Manny for the rest of 2009 came from A) writers with personal vendettas against him, B) everyone who valued Juan Pierre the player far too much because they liked Juan Pierre the person, and C) everyone who doesn’t understand that a .241 batting average can still be pretty damned good if it gets you a .917 OPS. It’s that kind of media fail which lead to posts like this, wondering why so many fans preferred Pierre to Manny despite overwhelming evidence that he’s a far lesser player.
Bill Plaschke status: manufacturing ridiculous outrage over Manny being in the shower after being removed from a playoff game.
Heading into 2010, expectations were high. The expected controversy over whether Manny would exercise his opt-out clause never came, as he quietly acknowledged he wouldn’t be passing up his guaranteed 2010 payday on November 6. With that out of the way, conditions were ripe for a comeback. Manny had had the entire winter to rest his hand, he was in a contract year, and if the thought of playing for his next payday didn’t motivate him, the embarrassment he’d suffered in 2009 certainly would.
Well, it didn’t work out exactly like that. Manny landed on the disabled list with leg issues three separate times, and played just 65 games with the Dodgers, the fewest in his career other than a cup of coffee as a 21-year-old with the 1993 Indians. Eight homers, 232 plate appearances, months on the disabled list, and far more Scott Podsednik and Garret Anderson in left field than we ever could have dreamed. That’s not exactly what we’d hoped for, I’ll grant you.
Classic Manny? Clearly not.
But again, nor was it the post-steroid disaster that the media liked to portray it as. Manny’s .915 OPS was 13th in MLB, among players with at least 225 PA. That’s higher than players like Adrian Gonzalez, Joe Mauer, Prince Fielder, Ryan Zimmerman, and Evan Longoria. Remember, PED suspension or not, we’re still talking about a guy who’s 38 years old. A .915 OPS is 91% of his career average 1.000 OPS; for a 38-year-old to get that close to matching his usual Hall-of-Fame level is impressive. In fact, it was the 21st highest OPS+ of any ballplayer 38 or older (220 PA or more) in history, and the list above is littered with names like Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Ty Cobb.
Bill Plaschke status: writing sob stories about the removal of Mannywood.
I’m not saying he was worth every penny this year; it’s hard to do so with how much time he missed. But to keep up the facade that he could no longer produce is just wrong. If the numbers above aren’t convincing proof of that, how about the fact that they’ve scored more than 5 runs per game with him in the lineup, and fewer than 4 without him? If he’s not classic, “in his Boston prime” Manny, or superpowered “just got to LA” Manny, he’s still an effective force in the lineup, one the Dodgers have proven they cannot win without.
Manny ended his Dodger career with a bizarre ejection after just one pitch while pinch-hitting with the bases loaded, which is oddly appropriate. He also ended his Dodger career atop the team’s all-time leaderboards in OBP, SLG, OPS, and OPS+ (minimum 500 at-bats), all in exchange for a failed third baseman, a mid-level pitching prospect, and a ton of heartburn. Now, he’s gone, dropped onto the White Sox for nothing but salary relief, and no matter how you feel about Manny’s time in LA, there’s not much argument we got exactly what we signed up for. Dominant offensive performance, more than a little controversy, and a less-than-glorious exit? Yeah, that sounds about right.
Well worth the trouble, I say. So long, Manny. You’re a petulant child, and I don’t mourn your loss. But few players who have ever put on the Dodger uniform have provided us with as much excitement and production.
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Great stuff, Mike. Perhaps the definitive Goodbye Manny column.
Comment by Shmolnick— August 30, 2010 #
I’d have to agree with Shmolnick up there. Good job, a proper “thanks for the memories” post. Well done.
Comment by Miss— August 30, 2010 #
I don’t even think he’s that much of a petulant child. Child-like, yes. But not all that petulant. He got along fine with his teammates and the fans in the bleachers, and most of the L.A. people with whom he didn’t get along fine are acknowledged douches (Plaschke, Simers, coaching staff idiots). And yes, the guy can still rake.
Comment by The Dude Abides— August 30, 2010 #
Well said…Mannywood was a fun time overall. For a 38 year old guy who didn’t have the PED help he needed to recover from injuries, it was still a treat to have him on the roster. John Kruk once said the he(Kruk) wasn’t an athlete…he was a ballplayer. Manny brought a child’s enjoyment for playing to the game. He was one of the greatest RH hitters of all time. He was having fun. That was fine by me. Manny’s time with the Dodgers ended sorta funky, but, while a Hollywood ending would have been great it just wouldn’t have been Manny.
Great column on Manny. Now, let the trial end soon…time to clean house.
Comment by Wes Parker— August 30, 2010 #
Bobbleslam will always be a great baseball memory with my kids, but whatever, he was gone in another month or so regardless. Anyone want to buy a slightly used Manny Fathead… anyone?
Comment by Chappy— August 30, 2010 #
Very well written: thanks for spending the time! This is a much more honest assessment of Manny’s time with the Dodgers than will be found anywhere else. Having Manny’s bat in the lineup made other hitters better, and that’s never a bad thing. Thanks again.
Comment by Michelle— August 30, 2010 #
Great piece.
Comment by c.lo— August 30, 2010 #
Well done. Bye Manny. Lilly, Pods, Kuroda and all the waiver guys are packing bags for sure. I would hope Lilly and Kuroda will stay.
Comment by Jeff— August 30, 2010 #
In the past two years, in 663 PA, Manny hit 27 HR and had 103 RBI, along with an OPS in the .990s. For this, he got $45 million. No matter how or why he was in effect a half-timer these past two years, Manny wasn’t worth the money, not when you consider the alternatives. Didn’t know about the PEDs, but I never supported giving that much money to a poor fielder of advancing age. Not in the NL. Could have gotten a front-line pitcher and some other talent for those dollars.
I think Plaschke comes out looking pretty good. He was prescient when he advised against resigning Manny at the end of ’08. Who knows how the Dodgers might have fared in the ’09 playoffs if they’d had Sabathia or Peavy (mentioned by Plaschke as alternatives to Manny)? It’s almost certain the team would have made it to those playoffs with someone other than Manny in LF, which means the presence of a great pitcher might have actually resulted in a different NLCS outcome.
Plaschke also makes an interesting point in that the team only went 34-28 with Manny in ’08. Plaschke sees this as Manny just not being worth it, but here I take Manny’s side. I doubt they would have made it to the playoffs without him.
Unfortunately, it seems Manny may end up with much the same type of legacy as Bonds. And, as a Dodger fan who resided in the SF area during Bonds’ infamous drug-enhanced run, I don’t want to see Dodger fans exhibiting the same deep denial as Giants’ fans. The fact is Manny is tainted. It’s too bad, but that’s the way it is. And it’s one reason I’m not sad to see him go.
Comment by SC Dodger— August 30, 2010 #
Plaschke’s facts are wrong. They were 31-21 with him this year.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 30, 2010 #
MSTI I agree 103% with your article. As for ‘worth it’, well that’s subjective. Sure it easy to say he was not worth 45 million because we did not win 2 world series, but who knows how we would have done with Peavy or someone else. In 1994 the Marlins spent all that money on free agents and won the series.Then they dumped everyone. The next years they were crap again. I say that was worth it. If we were to trade our top 20 prospects for one guy and then won everything I would say it was worth it. You might have to wait twenty years to get the chance again. Like us after 1988.
Comment by David S— August 30, 2010 #
[...] Go on Vacay, Get a Tan. TBLA Kickin’ My Ass. Jump to Comments Well, Manny got traded. Can’t say much for it other than having Manny, even if only for two years, was awesome. MSTI has a full prospectus on it. [...]
Pingback by Go on Vacay, Get a Tan. TBLA Kickin’ My Ass. « Dingers— August 30, 2010 #
Please just don’t give him away for nothing but salary relief. I couldn’t care less about the bottom line of Frank and/or Jamie McCourt. I want at least one player who has a chance to develop into an MLB-level contributor.
Comment by Steve— August 30, 2010 #
That’s not really an option here. The White Sox have no reason to give up someone of high quality for him.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 30, 2010 #
Well, other than they don’t want to pay the full freight for Manny’s contract either.
Comment by west coast ram— August 30, 2010 #
What I still don’t get. Is why the Sox want Manny anyway? I can see the arguments for us keeping or Dumping him, but they are 10 behind in the wildcard, worse than us. So they spend 4 million total and then what? please explain!! It can’t be because the want the three amigos in the game at one time.
Comment by David S— August 30, 2010 #
It’s actually easier for them to win the division than the wild card, though. They’re much closer in the AL Central.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 30, 2010 #
They’re only 4 or 5 behind Minnesota in their division.
Comment by The Dude Abides— August 30, 2010 #
Like any life-long Dodger fan I crave wins and championships.
Like any good film, it’s the human stories that touch our emotions and make it memorable.
This is why fans voted Vin Scully as their all-time favorite Dodger personality; he’s been around forever and he touches lives each game.
Dick Allen was a great talent but was traded for Tommy John after just one Dodger season (reportedly), because Peter O’Malley was aggravated by Allen’s penchant for marching to his own tune versus being a conforming team player.
Some fans want a championship no matter what it takes and who wears the Dodger uniform. On the other hand, Padre fans have to admit that their excellent seasons of 1996 and 1998 would not have happened without the help from chemically enhanced players led by Ken Caminiti. A’s fans have to discount the achievements of their 1988-1990 World Series teams for similar reasons. Even honest Yankee fans cringe at the realization that their recent successes were driven by cheating players.
Thus, old fashioned fans pine for the days of players emerging through the minor leagues to pay their dues and become stalwarts for the one organization they have known. The Dodger infield of Steve Garvey, Dave Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey that stayed intact for eight seasons is the ultimate example.
Like the guys who simply like women’s prominent breasts and don’t care a bit if they are natural or enhanced fans are either into their teams winning any way and any how, or they prefer winning without cheating.
Manny Ramirez has been a remarkable hitter who has most likely cheated most of his career. As opposed to being a five tool player, he has lacked at running, throwing, and catching. He is not a hustler and is not renowned as a leader in the clubhouse.
The Dodgers stumbled into the acquisition of Ramirez as the Red Sox were so desperate to rid him from their roster that they agreed to pay all of his substantial contract.
Today the Dodgers have done the same: “Take him and his salary, White Sox.”
If they Dodgers were to get a token player in return then the White Sox would have not paid all of the salary due Ramirez.
Manny Ramirez is 38, injury-prone, and with declining skills and overall value.
The Dodgers are 6.5 games out of the wild card spot.
It was a good business move today after a poor one to accede to a whopping $45 million for two years.
Remember when Ramirez said in spring training that this was his last season with the Dodgers?
As Bob Hope might have said, “Thanks for the Mammeries, Ramirez!”
Comment by pitchingguru— August 30, 2010 #
“Thanks for the Mammeries”
That’s the best thing yet to come out of this mess! Nice Line!
Comment by BotFot— August 30, 2010 #
Glad to inspire at least one laugh in the forest! Blame my punny proclivities on my big brother and William Shakespeare, in that order!
Comment by pitchingguru— August 30, 2010 #
Mike,
a great post written with all the intelligence and class I expect from you on this site. a great piece on the Manny era. bravo!
Goodbye Manny, good luck in chicago. as they say the games will go on. lets go blue!!!
Comment by format— August 30, 2010 #
On one level, I’m sorry to see Manny go. On another, I won’t miss him.
Comment by WBB— August 30, 2010 #
Great article, MSTI … but let’s all be honest here.
You wrote this entire thing just to use the line “Adorable puppies” and bring more people to your site via random Google searches. Fess up!
Comment by J— August 30, 2010 #
Thank you for being a voice of reason about Manny.
I think educated fans know the real deal and agree with you wholeheartedly.
Comment by Mike G— August 30, 2010 #
The Bobbleslam was easily my best memory at Dodger stadium. The sense of inevitability, the electric crowd, the fact that it was on the very first pitch…I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’m so lucky I actually got to be there in person.
Regarding something in your post, I’m not sure any journalists had a personal vendetta. Don’t get me wrong. I find Plaschke and others to be as useless as anyone. But I just think that they were just adhering to a previously established narrative. “Manny’s crazy! He doesn’t respect the game! He’s trouble! They ran him out of Boston!” He’s just sticking to the script. So really, I don’t believe he has anything against Manny. Rather, I think he’s just simply lazy. It’s bad journalism and that’s what Plaschke is at his core: a bad journalist.
Comment by GK Larsen— August 30, 2010 #
Great recap by MSTI and a great discussion group. Also we should keep this recap to send to all those lazy journalists etc. who just keep getting it wrong about Manny’s seasons here.
Comment by David S— August 30, 2010 #
I live in SF Giants country. Their fans came out in force today to rip me because we didn’t have Manny anymore. Was he overpaid? Yes. Did he provide a few months of great moments and then even more months/moments of sadness. Yes. What the Giants fans told me in their own ignorant way was that they feared Manny like so many pitchers in the majors. I am not glad he is gone. I am glad his defense, injury prone body and big contract are gone. Now that the Dodgers will not have his contract will they spend big money to get a big hitter this off season. We just have to wait now just like we got used to when Manny was on the IR/suspension list for almost 120 days in the last two years. Nice post btw.
Comment by Adonis— August 30, 2010 #
I personally will miss Manny and all the excitement he brought to Dodger fans…i wish him well!!!!!!
Now what kind of a team do we have left????…I have a feeling this isn’t the end of the goodbyes…
Comment by thinkblue— August 30, 2010 #
Great post and an accurate look at Manny’s time in LA. The one thing that many people haven’t understood was that Manny is an elite talent. He is obviously not what he once was in Cleveland or his early days in Boston, but still an elite talent.
While the playoffs are a crapshoot, especially in baseball, an elite talent usually pushes you farther along. A one time singular performance can also help, see Orel Hershiser 1988 Manny gave the Dodgers that opportunity, I only wish it would not have ended this way and hope whoever own the Dodgers going forward realizes that, if the Dodgers are to go deep in the playoffs ever again they are going to have to find another elite talent, probably a hitter if we ever want to see a World Series again.
Comment by Louis— August 30, 2010 #
I only like the move if they dump all the other guys, which i fear won’t happen, in that case we would have been better off trying for the Wild Card……..
Comment by DodgersKings323— August 30, 2010 #
[...] by John Young in education Say this for the 2+ years Manny Ramirez spent in Dodger blue: it was never boring. He was, at various points, both the most beloved Dodger we've seen in years (late 2008, when everyone had Manny-branded blue dreadlocks) and the most reviled (mid-2009, when he was suspended for PEDs and every self-righteous twit with a media pass fell over themselves to vilify him). It's hard, if not impossible, to recall another Dodger who ran the spectrum of emo … Read More [...]
Pingback by Saying Goodbye to Mannywood (via Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness) « Transparent Christina— August 31, 2010 #
Such a great write up regarding the meteoric rise and fall of Manny’s shooting star over the Ravene. I am thankful for Manny’s 2+ years spent in L.A., but eager to see where the next chapter of Dodger developments leads us. Onward & upward!
Comment by DodgerBlueBalls— August 31, 2010 #
How much of Manny’s contract goes with him? Are we still responsible for the 30 million deferred or does that go along with him to Chicago? That frees up 8,333,333 million over the next 3 years including what they took on this year as well as the 2.5 million buyout for 2014.
Comment by dusto— August 31, 2010 #
[...] feel like I wrote a pretty definitive review of Manny’s time in LA back in August, and as little as I want to write more about him, that’s about as much as you probably want [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2010 in Review: Left Field « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 27, 2010 #