What is Digg?43 Comments
- dcmcderm, on 11/07/2008, -0/+14Boras is the devil reincarnated
- saltyjustice, on 11/07/2008, -0/+6he'll be dogging it once he gets his money
- rockon4life45, on 11/06/2008, -1/+7As much as I hate Manny. He is a clutch hitter in every sense of word(s).
- blackinthmiddle, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4To people like you who make such statements, I always try t turn things around. Imagine you're a GM and you believe you're one hitter away from making the post season and you haven't made it in 10 straight years. Everyone wants you fired and your job is to put a winner on the field. Do you continue to ignore Manny and his uncanny knack for getting big time hits in the clutch?
To say he's useless in the outfield is just plain silly. He's not great? Sure. But I can name a host of players that are barely serviceable defensively. However, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you need offense, you'd be a fool to pretend like he's not there. Now you may not want to pay him what he wants and that's another story entirely. But he immediately helps a lineup. Look at Big Papi. What exactly has he done since Manny left?
And all of this from a Yankees fan. - badwithcomputer, on 11/06/2008, -2/+625 mill a year? that's just manny being manny.
- EclipseGSX, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4Read this article on Manny if you want a true picture into the type of person and player he is. As a Dodger fan, I'm ecstatic about getting him back for next season.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page= ...
Boras is the definition of a douchebag. - form3hide, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3Dodgers are just doing this to "show" their fanbase that they tried for Manny. Manny and Boras aren't going to settle for a 2 year deal.
- JamesPDX, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3Scott Boras at his best. I think that him alone has driven up the ticket prices by getting these huge contracts for players.
- Edger, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3Good. Sign him so you don't have money for CC.
- desperate brewers fan in denial - Tegurit34, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3Good lord, you can't possibly believe his bout with Red Sox management resulted in him purposely hurting the team on the field? This is the worst bout of correlation = causation ranting I've seen since Randy Johnson left Seattle. Incredibly shortsighted.
- Number23, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2As a life long Sox fan, I still have *some* warm feelings for the guy and there no doubt he’s a first ballot HOF’er. But any team would be crazy to sign him for more than two years. He’s over 35 so you can bet his hitting and especially his fielding isn’t going to get any better.
- thorpus, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Isn't he like pretty old?
- Mardala, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2LA is not Boston. People have lives outside of baseball. Plus with 5 million other distractions we simply say, "whatever." and get on with out lives.
- MazdaEric, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2and of course as we learned from the NY Yankees, the higher you pay a player, the better they play, the more wins you get! ...oh, wait...
- Tegurit34, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Which is an awesome idea because they'll net two 1st round draft picks when Manny walks.
- whorelock, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1So is this an indication that the Dodgers are serious about winning a world series, or is it money spent unwisely? Keeping my fingers crossed.
- roberekson, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Nothing like Digg to get a story to the homepage 2 days after it was actually news.
Buried for being old? - inactive, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Windex for his helmet?
- jba68, on 11/07/2008, -1/+2as a fan, I agree with you. If I were in need of an agent, I sure would want this guy negotiating for me
- inactive, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1
- kingofkolt, on 11/07/2008, -1/+2As a Red Sox fan... they can have him.
- Tegurit34, on 11/07/2008, -1/+2OK, I'm imagining I'm a GM. I'm in love with Manny's bat, and I recognize how clutch he was last year and would love that on my team. I see that his offense could thrust my offense from average to above average, and the rest of my team is solid.
Now I cross check my references because that's what GMs do. I recognize that...
A) While Manny was an incredible in the clutch in 2008, he was actually twice as UNclutch in 2007; that's because clutch hitting has extremely low year-to-year correlations in every player. But even if he's unclutch in 2009 his bat is still incredibly valuable.
And B) by every measure, Manny has been the worst everyday defensive player over the past decade, and how badly he hurts his team has to be properly evaluated and weighed against his offensive contributions.
Baseball Info Solutions -- the company Major League front offices use to track how hard every ball was hit and exactly where on the field the ball was hit -- finds that over the past 5 years an average defensive left fielder makes somewhere between 27 and 45 plays more than Manny makes. Now let that sink in -- that's roughly 35 plays that would otherwise be outs that become singles, doubles and triples.
Quantify it yourself to however you believe, but research conducted by people who now work in or for Major League front offices have found that a play in the outfield not made is worth .8 runs on average over the course of a season. That means Manny's defense costs his team somewhere between 15 and 25 runs compared to the average left fielder -- and the average left fielder is below average defensively already. Take Manny's offensive contributions, subtract his defensive contributions, and you no longer have a superstar.
So to bring back your hypothetical situation, yes, that bat would have put my team over the top in all those close games I lost, but how do I know my team wouldn't have surrendered more runs in those games? Every time a ball drops in left field that Manny can't get that my old left fielder could have, it costs me a run 8 out of 10 times.
His offense more than makes up for it, but so can a lot of players who provide less offense but more defense -- ones that cost less than $25 million a year. On the opposite end of the spectrum -- unbelievably fantastic defenders who are league average with the bat -- are gonna get almost half of what Manny will. In fact, if Mark Ellis rebounds to a league average bat, he won't be much worse than Manny in his typical season -- and he just signed for $6 million a year, which is the best free agent bargain this offseason will see. - KDX200rider, on 11/08/2008, -0/+1Manny won't settle for 2nd highest. Just wait LA, when the bloom is off the rose, Manny will be back to "jogging it out" like he did in Boston.
- MisterFurious, on 11/10/2008, -0/+1I was at one of the NLCS games at Dodger Stadium, and during one of the inning breaks, they showed video of the Dodgers Dream Foundation visiting a children's hospital. One of the clips showed a bald cancer patient talking to owner Frank McCourt. I can only imagine what they said: "Gee, Mr. McCourt, do you think you could find the money to bring Manny back next year?" For an owner who claims he has the best interests of the L.A. fans at heart, he talks a good game, but his wallet doesn't follow. I suppose it could be worse. He could have been Fox, who let Mike Scoscia, who was next in line to replace Tommy Lasorda, go to the Angels, who then proceeded to WIN THE ***** WORLD SERIES! No, I'm not bitter. Just very, very sour.
- Gatchaman, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1For once, I'd love to see a player not get paid what he's asking for. $25 mil a year for one guy in this economy is just BS.
- Tegurit34, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1His defense takes a ton of value away from his bat -- more than most people realize and I'm delighted to see someone on this board recognize it -- but not all of it. He'd make a fantastic DH but no DH is worth a $100 million contract.
- biggyfred, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1We've cut $63.5 million in contracts this off season, and have over $40 million in bad contracts (Jason Schmidt, Andruw Jones, etc.) coming off the books next year. $22.5 is a drop in the bucket for us.
I don't think the Bums or the Brew are going to get him though. I think he's going to end up in the east. - DiamondRhino, on 11/08/2008, -0/+1Hmmmm, you might have just swayed this Dodger fan's leanings with an offer of two 1st rounders...
Decisions. - blackinthmiddle, on 11/07/2008, -1/+1""I want to see who is the highest bidder. Gas is up and so am I," he said then."
Agreed, he's probably one of the best right handed hitters ever. However, 2-3 simply won't get it done. He has Boras as an agent and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't want a six year deal. He'll probably point to guys like Bonds (I know, I know) as evidence that 40 is not a death sentence. - rickface, on 11/07/2008, -1/+1There is no way Manny is the second best player in baseball.
- Tegurit34, on 11/07/2008, -1/+1Actually, that would be Carl Pohlad.
- Ogre73, on 11/07/2008, -2/+2Let the Scott Boras sideshow begin...
Seriously LA, hope you enjoyed last year b/c come next season Manny will find something to dog it on once your sports writers are even remotely critical of his play. Then you too will know the love-hate relationship Boston enjoyed with Manny the Batting Savant. - Tegurit34, on 11/07/2008, -1/+1LA is as much of a media zoo as Boston. Sportswriters like Bill Plaschke there tear into whoever makes them butthurt instead of making an accurate rendition of the facts in their opinion pieces.
- TheBogie, on 11/07/2008, -0/+0What a d-bag.
- goeric, on 11/07/2008, -2/+1The mannywig was my idea. I swear.
Cut out those dreads from the Jamaican hats, glued them into a dodger cap, one of those execs must have seen me and pawned it off as his own idea! The Dodgers owe me some sort of compensation :( - Moosington, on 11/07/2008, -1/+0That doesn't matter. The Dodgers aren't in a position to have the second best player in baseball, they are in position to have a mean hitter who energized the team and led them to the playoffs last year. That being said, its all moot because he'll get a 4-5 year deal from someone else.
- getisboy, on 11/07/2008, -2/+1why would we want him back?
- foxtrot3, on 11/07/2008, -6/+4I wouldn't pay a dime for him. Yeah, he's a great hitter, but he's less than useless in the outfield.
- Rethcir, on 11/07/2008, -3/+1Except when he's upset with management and decides to leave his bat on his shoulder in the bottom of the 9th with bases juiced and two outs against a division rival.
- bosoxrock, on 11/06/2008, -7/+1Perhaps the Red Sox could entice Manny to return to Boston now that pot has been decriminalized in MA.
http://soxandcocks.blogspot.com/2008/11/dirt-devil ...
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