Dunno if it’s his off-season workout or just the cold weather, but he was fine after a slow start last year, and I think he’ll be fine this year as well.

As for Manny…I’m with Sliced. I can only carry “root for the laundry” so far. May not be rational, but hey, I’m a fan, not a judge or jury. I don’t have to be rational or impartial.

Ortiz said that for all of the drama that accompanied Ramirez when he was a member of the Red Sox, his work ethic when it came to hitting should never be questioned.

“If you see Manny from the outside, your task will be totally different,” Ortiz said. “But if you play with Manny Ramirez, I guarantee you that you’re going to look at a hard-working guy, a guy that tried to get better every day. He’s got his issues, like everybody knows. But as a player, he did what he was supposed to do.”

(I think ‘task’ is a typo for ‘take’.)

Only when it’s beneficial or profitable. Otherwise they would burn or fire that person in a heartbeat. Look how quickly many Boston fans and even some of his ex-teammates turned on him when he left town. It’s all good until the margins fall into the red, which they eventually do (i.e. Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff, etc.).

I suspect that among most Yankee fans at least, the animosity is driven by how well Manny performed against the Yanks; the high emotions are tied with our hardcore fandom. If you’re hating Manny because he’s Latino, well you’re hating your own team as well, so I highly doubt that occurs in our borders (which is to say it’s not an unlikely premise, but highly unlikely on Banter). Manny, whether you think he’s an entertainer or a douche, possesses the stats of a likely Hall of Famer if that’s important, but then with PEDs the big debate of this generation is what it really takes to be a Hall of Famer; stats don’t tell the whole story, so how important are they to a player’s credentials nowadays, especially of you have perhaps a majority faction of moralists deciding who gets in and who is barred from even asking for directions?

For the record, I think both sides of this argument made a few valid points, which makes it hard to decide how I feel about Manny, but I will say it’s unfair to label someone as prejudiced if they heavily criticize him, because Manny deserves as much criticism as he does praise. On the same token, I don’t believe his on the field performance or stats make him a certified Hall of Famer; with this being the second time testing positive for PED use, you have to question not only how he arrived at those stats, but his personal judgment.

Understand, he’s no Ty Cobb when it comes to “interesting” personalities with HoF stats, but do you really admire or care for your children admiring a guy who makes the kind of decisions you wouldn’t even consider on and off the field? No matter where you or he both come from, “Manny being Manny” has gotten old.

So ultimately, while I admired Manny at his best, he goes out on a rather sad and pathetic note; a former star player who lost the respect of teammates and many fans, tested positive twice for PED use late in his career and has nowhere to go after that. I decide to be indifferent about him, being a Yankee fan who has endured watching him beat up on my team for a long time, only to suspect he was lying to everyone while doing so. What’s to root for or against when it’s all in question?

1. Teix not making the stop on the DP was a big deal. That’s a play he needs to make

2. Manny – hands-down the most entertaining player of his generation and slightly ahead of Edgar Martinez for best RH hitter of his time. Think the frustrating stuff is fair to call out – arbitrarily not playing, loafing on the bases, butchering LF – and in his best years his bat made up for all of it. M-B-M. An entire fan base rationalised and even romanticised this childish on field behavior. It’s a simple premise I’ve seen many times in the corporate world. The magic justifies the misery. A co-worker who is so bloody good at what they do that their shortcomings are overlooked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATU6eJ5q_LY&feature=related

Right on!

[82] Boat, yes and yes. Same here. I’ll contact you offline about the hanami tomorrow, though if weather is good may go to the demo in Koenji..

[74] However, I agree that Manny won’t be missed. His last few years have not been pretty…and now he’s going out on a sour note.

Does the fact that Mantle cleaned up at the end, apologized to his family and openly sat as an example of what “not” to be count for anything? Does the fact that lots of people signed donor cards because of him count for anything? It does for me.