2008-09 MLB Hot Stove

[HD MM]

Side question:

Issues aside, who would you rather want hitting in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs, bases juiced and down by 1 run?

Honestly, I can't think of a single player in the entire league I would rather have up to the plate than Manny.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Side question:

Issues aside, who would you rather want hitting in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs, bases juiced and down by 1 run?

Honestly, I can't think of a single player in the entire league I would rather have up to the plate than Manny.

Sometimes you can't aside the issues:

It wasn't unusual, especially against the Yankees, that Ramirez would find himself grabbing a bat when needed. That came in the top of the top inning on Sunday night with the game knotted at 4-4.

With two outs and a runner on third, Ramirez stepped to into the batter's box.

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera needed just three pitches to strike out Ramirez. He never took the bat off his shoulders as Rivera threw three straight strikes right over the plate to end the inning.

Three pitches. Zero swings.

Ramirez lifeless at the plate | Boston Red Sox | projo.com | The Providence Journal

 

[HD MM]

Sometimes you can't aside the issues:



Ramirez lifeless at the plate | Boston Red Sox | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Wow. Great reminder Cosmo. How soon we forgot about Manny's antics last year.

 

[salsadancer7]

Sometimes you can't aside the issues:



Ramirez lifeless at the plate | Boston Red Sox | projo.com | The Providence Journal

So are you insinuating that Manny is the ONLY batter Mariano has EVER done that to?

 

[cosmo_kramer]

So are you insinuating that Manny is the ONLY batter Mariano has EVER done that to?

What, stand there and LOOK at three consecutive pitches without swinging, without ever check swinging or leaning in toward the plate?? Rivera is a great pitcher, but as someone who saw it happen I'll do better than insinuate. He quit that night.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

If the latest reports are correct, the Mark Teixeira saga may be nearing its conclusion. Channel 5 (WCVB-TV) is reporting that Red Sox owner John Henry, team president Larry Lucchino, and GM Theo Epstein were in Texas tonight meeting with Mark Teixeira's agent, Scott Boras, in an attempt to finish a deal for the free-agent first baseman. According to Channel 5's Mike Lynch, who cited unnamed sources, the Red Sox were offering an eight-year, $184 million contract (average annual value -- $23 million) and are hopeful they can wrap up a deal tonight. The Globe's Adam Kilgore has confirmed that Boras is in Dallas tonight. We are currently trying to confirm the rest of the information. Channel 4 (WBZ-TV) later reported the Sox were meeting with the Teixeira camp tonight, though he wrote that the Sox did not expect anything "conclusive" to come out of the meeting. He did not cite a source for that information. ESPN's Peter Gammons and Buster Olney reported that, according to major league sources, the Red Sox have "taken strides" toward competing a deal for Teixeira to the point where face-to-face talks between the Sox and Boras were possible tonight. Stay tuned ...

Sox May Be Closer To Signing Teixeira - Boston Sports News Story - WCVB Boston

 

[KCK_Halo]

Tex is NOT worth that much money for that long a period of time. So long, Mark. It isn't about the money, huh? Another lying sack of s%$t!!! The Angels will do just fine without you.

 

[Mets82]

Tex is NOT worth that much money for that long a period of time. So long, Mark. It isn't about the money, huh? Another lying sack of s%$t!!! The Angels will do just fine without you.

This shouldn't surprise you. It's always about money. I know you said goodbye to Mark but they are the Angels going to be good in 09. I mean you lost K-Rod and Tex. I agree he isn't worth that much but the Red Sox have to do something because of what the Yankees did.

 

[SabresRule]

Tex is NOT worth that much money for that long a period of time. So long, Mark. It isn't about the money, huh? Another lying sack of s%$t!!! The Angels will do just fine without you.

Henry says Red Sox out of running for Teixeira - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

I think you jumped the gun there, KCK.

 

[HD MM]

Tex is NOT worth that much money for that long a period of time. So long, Mark. It isn't about the money, huh? Another lying sack of s%$t!!! The Angels will do just fine without you.

Plenty of lying sacks have rolled through Cleveland before. I know how you feel KCK. Sorry about this....

 

[salsadancer7]

What, stand there and LOOK at three consecutive pitches without swinging, without ever check swinging or leaning in toward the plate?? Rivera is a great pitcher, but as someone who saw it happen I'll do better than insinuate. He quit that night.

I understand what you saw....but Mariano has done that to ALOT OF GOOD hitters before and he will MORE than likely do it again......Manny INCLUDED if he faces him.

 

[salsadancer7]

Side question:

Issues aside, who would you rather want hitting in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs, bases juiced and down by 1 run?

Honestly, I can't think of a single player in the entire league I would rather have up to the plate than Manny.

Puhols.....and Barry Bonds, who has said he will NOT retire yet.

 

[CeltsHD]

I understand what you saw....but Mariano has done that to ALOT OF GOOD hitters before and he will MORE than likely do it again......Manny INCLUDED if he faces him.

I'm with Salsadancer on this. I saw the Manny at bat in question LIVE, and at the time and STILL now I thought it was just a case of a great pitcher getting the best of a great hitter. It happens.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I'm with Salsadancer on this. I saw the Manny at bat in question LIVE, and at the time and STILL now I thought it was just a case of a great pitcher getting the best of a great hitter. It happens.

Um, OK. Great hitters get fooled by looking at strike three all the time. Great hitters don't get fooled by looking at three consecutive fastballs:

MannyBManny joined the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 1. This was less than a month after he pinch hit at Yankee Stadium and blandly watched three Mariano Rivera fastballs go over the plate for strikes in a crucial spot. The bat never moved, and even Rivera was baffled, and his days in Boston effectively ended.

The genius of Manny Ramirez - Joe Posnanski - SI.com

 

[salsadancer7]

I'm with Salsadancer on this. I saw the Manny at bat in question LIVE, and at the time and STILL now I thought it was just a case of a great pitcher getting the best of a great hitter. It happens.

I mean I understand that BoSox fans hate Manny....but WITHOUT HIM, you guys MIGHT NOT have won ANY of your two World Series wins.....AND, since him beaing traded, Big Papis' does not seem the same with Manny NOT protecting him in the line-up.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I mean I understand that BoSox fans hate Manny....but WITHOUT HIM, you guys MIGHT NOT have won ANY of your two World Series wins.....AND, since him beaing traded, Big Papis' does not seem the same with Manny NOT protecting him in the line-up.

Don't get me wrong, I respect what he did during his stay in Boston, and even put up with his idiosyncrasies over the years, but what he did in '08 crossed the line. He wanted out of his contract (Boston held the option years) and wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to do that, even quitting on his teammates.

It's miraculous that his bum knee healed so quickly after his trade to L.A.

 

[salsadancer7]

Don't get me wrong, I respect what he did during his stay in Boston, and even put up with his idiosyncrasies over the years, but what he did in '08 crossed the line. He wanted out of his contract (Boston held the option years) and wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to do that, even quitting on his teammates.

It's miraculous that his bum knee healed so quickly after his trade to L.A.

Honestly, I think there had to be more too it than that.....

 

[KCK_Halo]

Henry says Red Sox out of running for Teixeira - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

I think you jumped the gun there, KCK.

Don't care...that SOB is not worth $23 million per for 8 years. Even if he comes to play for the Angels, the way he has held up the entire bidding process for the offseason really has tarnished his "good boy" image.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Honestly, I think there had to be more too it than that.....

Well, something changed between spring training '08 and late July '08:

"It's up to them to say, `OK, we're going take (the option). It's not up to me to go into the office and demand a four-year deal, whatever," he said. "No, I'm going come here to play the game, finish my year. If they want me to come back, I'll come back."

"I want to wait and talk to them (about) what they want to do, after the season," Ramirez said. "I want to play the game, finish my year, and whatever happens, happens."

It's funny to read these quotes now. Maybe it was his new agent, Scott Bora$.

wbztv.com - Manny Ramirez: 'I Want To Stay In Boston'

 

[FIREBIRD81]

Don't care...that SOB is not worth $23 million per for 8 years. Even if he comes to play for the Angels, the way he has held up the entire bidding process for the offseason really has tarnished his "good boy" image.

Yeah, really at this point, any offer he takes will give him more money than he will know how to spend. To still be holding everything up smacks of either greed or being a primadonna. I thought Tex fit well in Anaheim and don't wanna see him leave, but if that's his game, then he really doesn't deserve the Angels. Meanwhile all these other great players are being shoved to the side while the entire world stops to see if Tex can actually make a decision. This kind of stuff ruins baseball.