Manny Ramirez quit caring about his career, so why should fans?
CHICAGO – With the jury out on Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez has delivered a verdict.
It was unexpected. It was not shocking.
While a San Francisco jury deliberates on the tawdry case of the United States v. Bonds, Ramirez upstaged the all-time home run king. He has tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance for at least the third time – the second since Major League Baseball instituted penalties.
Ramirez was facing a 100-game suspension but did all a favor, opting to retire rather than continue the charade that has been his career since a failed test early in the 2009 season produced a 50-game suspension.
The Rays, who had signed him to be their designated hitter and were off to a 0-6 start, were blindsided. General manager Andrew Friedman told reporters at U.S. Cellular Field that he had been “cautiously optimistic he would be a force in our lineup.”
A force? The guy who was once among the best right-handed hitters in baseball has been a farce for a long time.
He must know it as well as anybody. He certainly seemed content exiting the stage.
“I’m at ease,” Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com via phone from his home in Miami. “God knows what’s best (for me). I’m now an officially retired baseball player. I’ll be going away on a trip to Spain with my old man.”
The circus has left town, and someone else will sweep up the poop.
And here’s a question: Just how brilliant is Theo Epstein? Even though Ramirez had joined David Ortiz in helping reverse their curse, leading the Red Sox to World Series championships in 2004 and ’07, the fireproof hipster in the control room for Red Sox Nation cut the cord with Manny at the trade deadline in ’08. The baggier Ramirez’s pants got, the less he cared about anything except himself, and captain Jason Varitek, manager Terry Francona and a clubhouse of others reached the breaking point.
Epstein recognized that and shipped Ramirez to the Dodgers in a three-team deal at the deadline. He acknowledged all that Ramirez had done for both the Indians and Red Sox but decided it was time to make him somebody else’s problem.
Ramirez, who has been reported to be among the players who failed the first round of survey drug testing in 2003, didn’t seem to care anymore. But why then did he continue playing and risking suspension by taking something from the shelf of sluggers’ little helpers?
With Ramirez, who ever knew? That was much of the fun of his roller-coaster career, which apparently has ended at age 38 with him holding a .312 career average and ranked 14th in home runs (555), 18th in RBIs (1,831) and 13th in extra-base hits (1,122).
There never has been a more dangerous player come to bat more often in the postseason than Ramirez.
His teams in Cleveland, Boston and Los Angeles played in 23 playoff series, and he was a reason they won 14 of those. He made it to the World Series four times (1995 and ’97 with the Indians, 2004 and ’07 with the Red Sox) and scared pitchers half to death every time he stepped out of the dugout to head to the on-deck circle. During 111 postseason games, he hit .285 with 29 home runs and 78 RBIs.
“Until the past couple of years, I thought he was on his way to the Hall of Fame,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “I don’t think many guys got as many big hits in their careers as he has. There weren’t many guys who had as big an effect on a game as he had. You hate to see greatness all of a sudden just fade.”
True. But as little as Ramirez seemed to care, why should we?