Defending Manny

Peter Gammons tooks some unnecessary swipes at Manny Ramirez on sports talk radio station WEEI according to this report from the Boston Globe owned and operated web site Boston Dirt Dogs. I have all the respect in the world for Peter Gammons but this is crap:

One thing I find interesting, that... and I think he gets, after his early days in Boston, he gets a wonderful ride, but the complete disappearance of Manny Ramirez as a real player. Yeah he hit a home run on the breaking ball yesterday, but he's a .260 hitter with a .880 OPS since the All-Star break last year. Doesn't there come a point where that becomes a little bit of a concern, he gets hit on the leg and doesn't play two games. I don't know. I find him as distracted as any time I can ever remember him... He just doesn't seem to be into the games at all. There was a time when he was a dominant offensive force at the end of games

Peter what are you basing these statements about Manny's supposed "disappearance" and his being "distracted" upon? The Red Sox have played 34 games this year and Manny has played in 33 - so I don't know what you mean by "gets hit on the leg and doesn't play two games". As far as being a dominant force at the end of a game or when the games on the line - Manny would definately be in my top 5 for players I want up with runners in scoring position and the game on the line. Last year with RISP - Manny hit .340 with a 1.098 OPS. With RISP and 2 outs - Manny hit a blistering .361 with a 1.138 OPS. That's a money player! For his career Manny has hit .329 with a 1.059 OPS with RISP and with the bases loaded - Manny IS the most feared batter in baseball today (see - grand slams, 18)!

I just wonder, this is a long time, same OPS since the All-Star game as Mark Loretta. Is that what you want for $20 million in a left fielder who's a defensive and baserunning liability?...Then they had him traded to the Mets this winter too... There are lot of things, just the way he walks and so forth, they wanted him to hit fourth and not third and he wouldn't do that. I don't know... I'm amazed a little bit that he gets the pass that he gets... maybe it's resignation. I had a fan come up to me at the ballpark and say "how in the world could you not pick Manny as one of the 5 best players in baseball? And I went "umm what?!? Kidding me?" I mean there were other priorities, the qualifications for the other selections were defense, baserunning, accountability, leadership. But I was just amazed, the guy was really angry about it. ...Their best player is their catcher

The "is that what you want for $20 million in a left fielder who's a defensive and baserunning liability?" argument is the same one people tried to make against Jim Rice was he was playing for the Sox. Plus - Peter are you using salary as a benchmark for how you judge a player because if that's the case then the Red Sox best player is Bronson Arroyo and his sub million salary.

Gammons explains how he came to his conclusions about Manny with "there are lot of things, just the way he walks and so forth..." Just the way he walks? Are you freaking kidding me? Gammons was a guy who couldn't tell Bonds was juicing even though Bonds head was exploding but now he can read Manny's mood by the way he walks? Are you freaking kidding me?

Maybe Manny is walking a little differently, a little more gingerly perhaps but that is because he has a bad quad and he keeps getting hit by pitches in the leg. No can't be that - it must be his attitude - right Peter?

I've probably seen as many innings of Red Sox baseball this year as Peter Gammons. I've only been to one game at Fenway but from the sound of it - I've had as many conversations with Manny Ramirez as Peter Gammons (my guess based on this interview - zero). I too have noticed some little things such as how when Kevin Youkilis is in the dugout - he usually sits next to Manny and they are normally either talking hitting (one of the two usually mimics swinging a bat) or laughing. Manny also took Shea Hillenbrand under his wing when Shea was a young player with the Sox. These are the little things I notice when I watch Manny. Peter you are in a position to speak with either Kevin Youkilis or Shea Hillenbrand - why don't you call them for some first hand information about Manny?

As far top 5 players in the game - I would have Pujols, Guerrero, A-Rod, Tejada and then either Manny or Ichiro or maybe even a healthy Lance Berkman or Jim Thome or Todd Helton (I'm not 100% sold on either Beltran or Rolen at this point). The argument that Manny is 5th in a top 5 is not far-fetched.

Well he (Tek) [Jason Varitek] understands and accepts responsibility. He's a very intelligent man. And accountability is to me something that's very important in baseball. And I think David Ortiz is an extremely accountable person. He got his contract although he is obviously one of the most underpaid guys in terms of his contract. Doesn't seem to be a problem. Goes out, doesn't brag about it, he's a leader in his own way. He is their, not Manny Ramirez, excuse me Michael you're wrong, David Ortiz is their best offensive player. NO question about it. No comparison. He is a dominant force in the lineup.

Four quick points on this quote:

1. Quiet leadership - I have read dozens of accounts about how nobody puts in more time in the batting cages than Manny Ramirez (some of these accounts were even from Gammons I believe) and I spoke above about how Manny takes young players under his wing (he bought Hillenbrand a new wardrobe when Shea came up to the majors - for an example).

2. Bringing in Ortiz being underpaid again raises the question about whether Gammons is using salary or skill as his benchmark. If both are used then right now Clint Barmes is the best MLB player on the planet. He can't have it both ways.

3. Ortiz "doesn't brag about it"? Can you give me one example where Manny brags? Just one Peter - that's all I ask. What? No? That's what I thought.

4. Here are Ortiz's numbers compared to Manny for the year:

Ortiz - .282 BA / 9 HR / 23 RBI / .349 OBP / .588 SLG
Manny - .241 BA / 8 HR / 29 RBI / .374 OBP / .527 SLG

Manny is off to a slow this year and is hitting 73 points below his career average and yet still has comparable numbers to Ortiz. You can argue which player is the better offensive force but you cannot say the Ortiz is CLEARLY the better offensive player. Gammons says "no comparison" and I think he couldn't be more wrong.

H's (Ortiz) been better for two years Michael, watch the games. Watch what happens when good pitchers are on the mound. Watch against guys who throw hard, who throw inside. And watch what happens. I'm not talking about garbage time numbers, I'm talking about numbers that mean something.

Umm... Manny won the World Series MVP last year. You could argue that Ortiz was the playoff MVP (and he was) but Gammons completely overlooks this. I mean it was the baseball writers who picked Manny as Series MVP - so I guess they had an argument to make.

In answer to a question on who is the best right handed hitter in baseball:

Oh, have you ever heard of Albert Pujols? Don't, don't make a fool of... please that's foolish to say that, that's... it's not worth a discussion. There are only two players in a comparable period of time in History who have the numbers that Puljols does and that's Williams and DiMaggio in their first 4-1/4 seasons. He's the dominant right-handed hitter in baseball.

I agree that Pujols is the best right-handed hitter in baseball but I don't like the way Manny is dismissed out of hand. Pujols may compare favorably to Williams and DiMaggio in their first four full seasons but Manny has a career OPS+ of 156 compared to DiMaggio's 155 (I don't use Ted Williams as a bench mark because there is only one Ted Williams). Let's see how Pujols compares after 12 seasons.

The cheap shots on Manny from Gammons were unwarranted and not what you would expect from the man many consider the best baseball writer in the business. In fact you could write that "Peter Gammons has disappeared as a real baseball writer" and describe his performance as "distracted" and you would have a much better argument with that then arguing the same about Manny Ramirez as a baseball player.