Here is some more information on the two Cuban ballplayers who have recently defected to the States.
Meanwhile, I’m sure nobody will be shocked to learn that Manny Ramirez is still a member of the Boston Red Sox this morning, although Ramirez’s agent says that Manny would still love to be traded to New York.
Joe Torre is not normally asked to sit in on Boss George’s annual Tampa meetings. He did attend this week however, and in his first comments to the media since the end of the World Serious, Torre shared what he told his Boss. According to Tyler Kepner in The Times:
“I talked about some of the things I didn’t appreciate, as far as some of the statements and things that went on all year,” Torre said during a conference call yesterday…”It was basically a one-sided conversation. The fact is I said something I needed to say and did it, I’d like to believe, in a diplomatic way.”
… “This is the last year of my contract,” Torre said. “I certainly am not politicking for an extension. I do not know if I’m going to do it after this year. But I’m looking forward to this next year. Hopefully all the baseball and all the good things that happen on the field will offset what happens off the field.
“I don’t know what those are going to be; none of us do. It was a little unusual this year. But when you own the ball club and you spend the money Mr. Steinbrenner spends, you understand the frustration. But I hope everybody is understanding of what it takes to win on a regular basis. I’m not complaining about it. I know we’ve been there every year. But I want to let people know it’s not that easy.”
Joe Torre might not be the greatest manager in the game
Christian Ruzich, who runs The Cub Reporter, invited me to join his site, all.baseball.com mid-way through the summer. Along with Jay Jaffe, Edward Cossette and Will Carroll, Ruz has become one of my closest baseball pals this year. So it is difficult to express how upset I’m feeling. If you head over to The Cub Reporter you’ll learn that Ruz and his wife Darryl’s house was a casuality of the great fires that have been sweeping California. They’ve lost their home (and so did Christian’s dad). Fortunately, their dogs were saved. And Christian and D have each other, which is what is most important.
I’ve never lived through an experience remotely like the one Ruz and D are facing, and I don’t quite know how to express my sympathy to them. What I really feel is humbled because I’m so helpless to “fix” the problem. Will Carroll wrote a touching piece on his page today and he feels at a loss as well. Will and I exchanged e-mails yesterday wondering what we can do to help Ruz and D out. We haven’t come up with anything solid yet, but perhaps we can initiate a fund-raiser to help Ruz out.
Maybe he’ll need a new computer or a new TV. We could also simply raise some money and then give it to Ruz as a gift and let him spend it how he wants. Anyhow, I know how popular Christian’s site is, and I know he’s got a loyal following. If each one of his faithful readers would give just a couple of bucks, I’m sure we could hook Ruz up with something nice, just to let him know how much we feel for him, and to let him know how we feel about him.
If anyone has any suggestions, let Will Carroll or me know. We’ll be trying to figure something out over the next week or so
