Manny Ramirez

I'm not bothered at all by Manny not being in camp right now. I only care that he puts up his usual numbers. Conside what Manny has averaged these past four years:

Manny Ramirez - 168.5 hits / 39.5 HR / 121.25 RBI

These numbers also reflect the numbers from 2002 when Manny missed about 30 games because of a broken finger.

If Manny just has an "average" season he will:

- move into 25th place on the all-time HR list (with 43 he'll move into 23rd place)
- move into 40th place all-time on the RBI list (passing names like Mickey Mantle, Jim Rice and Tris Speaker)
- move into 41st place on the all-time extra base hit list (passing names like Joe DiMaggio and Wllie McCovey)
- move into 5th place on the all-time HR list for the Red Sox (behind Ted, Yaz, Rice and Evans)

It should be remembered by Red Sox fans that we are speaking about one of the all-time great hitters in the history of baseball and I for one am willing to cut him some slack.