Manny a Quitter? This Time, Maybe Not

LOS ANGELES -- After listening to the Dodgers explain many times why they sent Manny Ramirez to the Chicago White Sox on Monday, West Coast Bias knows how Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin feels.

Not a lot of explaining was needed, unless they wanted to induce migraines.

At 38, with half a season lost to leg injuries, Ramirez is a designated hitter more than he is a left fielder. The American League best suits him.

Manny late in his career also sometimes resembles a cheater and a quitter, which argues against under-employing him, as the team did by benching him in recent days. He's not someone you want hanging around with a lot of time on his hands. You say the Dodgers also saved $4 million? No further explanation needed.

"It was time," said Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, and he's a Manny fan.

It was past time.

Why not keep Ramirez? He can still hit well, with a .405 on-base percentage in 66 games this year. Why not use his bat to help bridge the 6 1/2-game gap to the National League wild-card berth?

Manny in a reduced role wasn't likely to return good value. Manny doesn't settle, not when there's a better option, which the White Sox and a DH role are. He's still the most talented hitter on the Dodgers. Why give him pom-poms?

Once the White Sox wisely used the media two weeks ago to broadcast their desire to employ Ramirez, presumably as a DH, the ticket was all but punched, and Colletti's minimal trade leverage was likely to only go down for a player who teammate Andre Ethier said Monday was a "non-factor" once the leg injuries struck. The Dodgers had a left fielder with two healthy legs in Scott Podsednik, acquired from the Royals in late July.

Not that it matters, but the only thing that was unclear is whether the Dodgers quit on Manny first, or he quit on them.

"We felt he would be better served in the other league," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, declining to say when he reached that conclusion.

Ramirez wasn't available for comment, leaving it to his agent, Scott Boras, to sum up why the 12-time All-Star will pull on a White Sox uniform Tuesday.

"He gets to go to a role that will work well for him this year and in the future," Boras told FanHouse. "As long as he's healthy, Manny can hit."

Hitting is Ramirez's genius and his bliss. Yes, he was busted for violating baseball's drug policy last year, making some wonder if steroids were behind his career success. Not here. In his 20s, a skinny Manny raked. No one remembers him not being a great hitter. Unlike lots of cheaters in baseball, though, he was caught and punished, to the tune of $8 million in forfeited salary.

Is Ramirez a quitter? Yep, if you believe Red Sox personnel who complained that his lollygagging induced the other Sox to trade him to the Dodgers two summers ago.

When Ramirez got thrown out of Sunday's game with the bases loaded, after seeing only one pitch as a pinch-hitter, the I Told You Sos in New England were easily heard in Los Angeles.

But if the Dodgers think Manny quit on them by purposely ticking off the ump, they weren't fessing up to it Monday.

Torre absolved Ramirez of any blame relating to the ejection. In fact, Torre said he apologized to Ramirez for being angry with him after the heave-ho. A talk with the ump, Gary Cederstrom, convinced Torre that Ramirez hadn't said anything beyond "the pitch was outside."

Said Torre: "I think you have to let the ump know if the pitch wasn't a strike."

Dodgers players were equally forgiving.

"My first reaction was, 'Shoot, that's a big situation to get thrown out of the game,'" said catcher Brad Ausmus. "So I went inside and looked at the replay, and from the overhead view, it was clearly a ball, and I understood where Manny was coming from, because I've been there. Manny doesn't cuss. I don't know if he deserved to get ejected, but I can see why he was frustrated."

Torre said the ejection "wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back." Colletti said that even if Ramirez had blasted a pinch-hit grand slam on Sunday, Ramirez would have been headed to Cleveland to join the White Sox, his fourth employer.

Aside from affirming my view that Manny often isn't fully invested in the outcome of the game, the ejection's only real impact was to further strengthen White Sox GM Kenny Williams' perception that the Dodgers had to let Manny go. Colletti said on Monday that he tried to get talent for Ramirez. He sought a Sox "B" prospect for $1.5 million. No dice. Then he tried to get a lesser prospect for $1 million, and another for $500,000. Nothing.

Williams acted like he knew Manny was his all along. It couldn't have hurt that he's practiced at taking on salary from NL West clubs. Giving up four pitchers last summer, Williams assumed Jake Peavy's $56 million contract from the Padres, a move that prompted high-fives among Padres front-office officials. Last winter, Williams saved the Dodgers a seven-figure sum when he traded two minor-league pitchers for outfielder Juan Pierre. And a month ago he bartered for Edwin Jackson, a pitcher who had become too expensive for the Diamondbacks.

"He brought a lot of life to this place. ... He brought this franchise and this city a lot of joy."
-- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti on the Manny Ramirez era in L.A. Ramirez is the all-time leader in postseason home runs, giving Williams extra reason to dream about winning a second World Series title in six years. First, the Sox will need to pass the Twins, who lead them by four games.

"We had a few targets, but certainly Manny was on the list," Williams said. "We did try to get him at the (trade) deadline (on July 31). The thought behind it was very simple for us. We not only want to get into the playoffs, but once we get in, we want to have a chance to do something special. The teams that are there have some good pitching, and you need a guy who can hit good pitching and hit it in the clutch. This guy has been there and done that. It's a matter of getting his timing back and he'll be effective."

Ramirez wanted to bat several times a game, but Torre said that wasn't going to happen as long as Podsednik was healthy and batting like he has (.304 entering Monday). Ramirez had missed 65 of the Dodgers' 131 games this year because of hamstring and calf injuries.

"Manny was probably going to be a part-time player," Torre said. "It didn't make much sense for him to be here."

Torre added that, even if the Dodgers were in first place, Ramirez would've been sent to the White Sox, the logic being that Ramirez, as a part-time player, wouldn't be responsible for the team's win-loss record.

"If he could've played the outfield here a lot, I would've kept him," Colletti said.

If Colletti hadn't traded for Ramirez two summers ago, who knows? Maybe Colletti wouldn't be deciding the fate of any Dodgers players now, because the general manager might not have survived the 2008 season. Leading the Dodgers to their first NL West title since 2004, Ramirez batted .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI in 53 regular-season games down the stretch. I've never seen a more entertaining hitter over a season's third.

The team reached the National League Championship Series, and Colletti looked like the smartest Dodgers GM in decades. If Ramirez couldn't give the Dodgers two World Series titles, the total won by the Red Sox in his time there, he was able to make the Dodgers relevant again.

"He brought a lot of life to this place," Colletti said.

The shelf life, as it turned out, was 25 months. At the gift store atop Dodger Stadium, Manny Ramirez jerseys weren't to be found Monday.

"They've been removed," a sales clerk told me. Another clerk said: "Jerseys, T-shirts -- everything is gone."

Any hard feelings, though, weren't lingering among Dodgers personnel.

"He brought this franchise and this city a lot of joy," Colletti said.

Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp said Ramirez showed him how to look for pitches. Third baseman Casey Blake described Ramirez as a swell teammate.

"Manny taught us a lot," Blake said. "He's a guy that definitely worked hard. I learned a lot from one of the best right-handed hitters in the game, and I appreciate everything he did for our team and me personally."