Manny Finally Signed

Manny Ramirez has finally signed a contract. Finally. You know, when you look at the whole thing, this greed, and waiting that he's been doing did absolutely nothing but make him look bad. He signed with the Dodgers for 2 Years, worth 45 million. Remember the first offer, waaaaaaaaaaay back in November? 2 Years, 44.5 million was, I believe, the offer. Nice job Manny. Serious skill. You earned 500,000 dollars more. Let me ask you. What can you do with 45 million that you can't do with 44.5 million? Seriously, all Manny did was make himself and his agent look bad, make himself 2 weeks late for spring training, and show himself off as a completely greedy jerk. Seriously Manny, it's not worth it. I made a post in January about how he should be a Yankee, but that was then. A lot of people weren't signed then. He didn't seem like a jerk. I knew he loved money, but I thought he loved baseball more. Now that I've seen him sacrifice 2 weeks of spring training for an extra 500,000 dollars, which for him is like 50 cents to the most of the working world. What's wrong with him? He is a complete idiot. He doesn't care about anything but money. Now, I'm glad we never signed him. We didn't need him, and he would have just been a bad influence in the clubhouse. He would have been a liability defensively. He would have hurt more than he helped. I feel bad for Joe Torre. He's as good as anyone at handling people, and I still feel bad for him. He has to deal with a major headache. Another thing, Joe Girardi probably would never have been able to handle Manny. I'm really glad he's not a Yankee.

The guys a great baseball player, but thats all he is. The Dodgers are going to have a tough season. They don't care though, because they do need him. He, regardless of his personality, will be the reason the Dodgers are in the postseason this year.

What do you think?

Joe Torre's Legacy Should Not Be Tarnished By His Book

For the last couple of days, we have been hearing a lot of things about "The Yankee Years," Joe Torre's new book which covers his 12 successful years as manager of the New York Yankees. I have been reading and hearing many things that have said that Torre's legacy has been destroyed by his new book because of the insults that he shot at players that are, and were, on the Yankees. Personally, I don't believe a word of it. It's the New York Post people! They are trying to make money, so they put the things that people will be most interested in the paper. I have quite a few reasons why this book shouldn't be made too big a deal of.

It has been reported that in Torre's book, he says that A-Rod was called A-Fraud by teammates. It has been reported that David Wells went out of his way  to make people frustrated with him, and Kevin Brown was just naturally good at making people frustrated. It was reported that Brian Cashman betrayed him on several occasions, particularly the final meeting last year when he was essentially fired. He killed Carl Pavano, and had a number of insults toward Randy Johnson, Kenny Lofton, Gary Sheffield, and more, as it was reported. See a pattern here? Nobody has read the book yet! It has all been reported by New York Post. Am I saying that none of it is true? No. Am I saying that the newspaper blew it out of proportion? Absolutely.

Lets go through the reported insults for a little bit. He said that A-Rod was called A-Fraud during his tenure with the Yankees. Well, we know it wasn't in the last 2 years, because Andy Pettitte said he has never heard it once. Mike Mussina reported that it is possible that he heard it, but that it didn't necessarily mean that he heard it in a bad way, as it might have been a joke. We haven't even seen it in context yet. I don't think this one is a big deal.

He said Brian Cashman never "betrayed" him, and that they had disagreed, but that is normal for 2 different people. This one isn't anything.

He killed Pavano. This one doesn't surprise anyone. Everybody killed Pavano. It's not like he didn't deserve it.

He had insults for Kenny Lofton, Gary Sheffield, David Wells, and Randy Johnson. Well, Sheffield and Lofton insulted him for "treating white players better," which we all know isn't true. He said Kevin Brown just was naturally frustrating, and had insults for Randy Johnson too. Maybe these weren't called for, but what do they expect. They didn't live up to what they were expected to do. He also insulted Cashman for becoming increaingly obsessed with numbers, and didn't like "the feel" of players. I think he is right here, because none of his signings since 2004 have worked out. 

Well, I think the Post makes it a lot worse than it really is. If we wait until we get the book, and see it in context, and listen to what Torre has to say about it when he addresses the media, I think that our opinion of him won't change. Maybe some of the stuff in the book is a little harsh, but once we read it, we will still look at him as a legend, and one of the best managers the Yankees have ever had.