Red Sox Magic Number - 24

With the Yankees getting absolutely pasted by the Tigers last night - the Red Sox magic number is now 24.

The number 24 will present a quandary for the Red Sox front office in the coming years. It happens to be the uniform number of certain first ballot Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez who should easily be in the top 20 in HR and RBI when he retires. Manny is under contract for 2008 and the team holds options for the 2009 and 2010 seasons but those options will come at a cost of $20 million per year. I have the suspicion that this is Manny's last contract and that his last year in a Red Sox uniform will also be his last year in baseball.

The quandary for the Red Sox will be threefold. First - do the Red Sox exercise the option years? Manny's numbers are down this year. Is this a trend? The Red Sox should have a clear idea by the end of next season. Second - unless Manny stays with the team through the 2010 season - he will have fewer than 10 seasons with the Red Sox. One of the official team guidelines for retiring a player's number is having played at least 10 seasons with the Red Sox (the other two are being elected to the Hall of Fame and having retired in a Red Sox uniform). Do they waive the 10-year rule for Manny? Manny has been an All-Star every year he's been in Boston and he was the MVP of the Red Sox first World Series victory in 86 years.

The final quandary will be if they do retire Manny's number - what do they say to Dwight Evans and Jim Rice? Dwight Evans also wore the number 24 and he's currently over 120 HR and over 500 RBI ahead of Manny on the Red Sox all-time lists for HR and RBI. If they honor Manny by retiring the number 24 - what do they say to the man who played 19 seasons for the Red Sox and who will probably have as many Gold Gloves for the Red Sox as Manny has All-Star game appearances? Do they retire the number 24 and say it is for both Manny and Dewey?

If they do that - what do they say to Jim Rice? No player has worn Jim Rice's 14 since Rice retired. If Jim Rice gets elected to the Hall of Fame - then it is almost a given that the Red Sox will retire his number. That's a big "if" though and realistically it looks like Rice will fall just short of election to the Hall. Retring Rice's number is a pretty easy call in my mind.

Maybe the biggest question to answer is the first one.

The number 24 also happens to be the number of beers in a case. I think I'll go out this afternoon and buy myself a case of beer to watch the Red Sox dash the Yankees Wildcard hopes. My quandary will also be threefold - do I buy Sam Adams, Bud Light or Wachusett?