Im not sure about anybody else, and I hope this doesnt cause a personal attack in response, but I would be very excited to get Bay on this team. Number one he is much better defensively. He has had 2 seasons already of 30+ and 100+ HR and RBI production, and hes only 29 years old. This is a guy ready to hit his prime hopefully with the bost redsox for 7.5 million next year. And I honestly believe losing Manny may just help in general. As John Dennis said this morning on WEEI, "If Manny is not in that clubhouse tomorrow afternoon, they will have an Ice Cream Party."
they may have an ice cream party, but that is going to have to be some REALLY good ice cream to make up for not making the playoffs....
the front office botched this big time. they should have just picked up his options at the beginning of the season. there no reason to think that Manny isn't going to right about where he is now for the next couple of seasons and his bat is just not replaceable.
the combo of Ortiz and Manny is one of the most fearsome in baseball and breaking that up because they don't like him taking some plays/games off every once in a while is maddening to me.
this is almost all on the front office. once they started talking about trading Manny and how he was faking injuries etc this thing just exploded.
so many people/commentators have been saying all season that there was no reason to pick up Manny's options......well now you're looking at it. the team is a mess right now.
it's frustrating that a team with so many resources, so much revenue, so much emotional investment from its fan base can be SO bad at handling the human element of their negotiations.
they always seem to end up in these bitter, bitter situations where their energy is devoted to trying to manipulate public perception rather than straight forward dealings.
just doesn't sit well with me. plus, jason bay (aside from being a huge step down talent-wise) is a big ol' snooze-fest. this team is rapidly turning into a big payroll version of the
Oakland A's.....all Billy Bean Ball and little personality.
they made two big mistakes back in Feb by not letting Schil get his surgery and not picking up Manny's options and now we are feeling the effects with a starting staff without a leader and a lineup on the verge of losing its swagger.