Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Ken Rosenthal raises the interesting question about the Red Sox NOT exercising their option on Manny Ramirez for 2009. I think the Red Sox will exercise the option but if Manny finishes the year with 30 HR, 100 RBI and an OPS+ of 130 - then they will definitely think about it. And if Manny acts up again between now and the end of the year - then they will think long and hard about whether having Manny around is worth it. Manny is lucky that there are no big name outfielders available in this year's free agent crop. I think Rosenthal is correct that the Red Sox will check with the Rockies about the availability of Matt Holliday before they re-up Manny.... LyfLines has a great review of the Red Sox performance in June. I had forgotten that the Red Sox entered June a game back of Tampa Bay. It also looks like the Red Sox were actually a better club with Coco Crisp in the line-up. Crisp had an OPS of .880 for the month (compared to Jacoby Ellsbury's anemic .592). Good stuff... David Pinto points out that Edgar Gonzalez has been a hit for the Padres. A 30-year old career minor leaguer making the most of his opportunity is always a great story. I would like to point out that the Red Sox also have a career minor leaguer playing second in Pawtucket who I think would do well with a shot at the bigs. Joe Thurston is leading Pawtucket with a .324 BA but at 29-years old - time is running out for him... Tom Verducci has an excellent article on Tim Lincecum. Well worth the read...