There’s been a bit of ill will circulating the quarters I will hereby refer to as “Keep Your Sox On Central” (even though those quarters are not, in fact, a physical space) about the intentions of one Theo Epstein. Some of that ill will has made it onto the blog recently, because as much as we hate to admit it, we’re crazy fans who think we know what’s going on in the offices on Lansdowne Street – and that we know how to avoid those obviously stupid mistakes.
Well, mistake or not, it now not only sounds like this year’s offering of Manny Ramirez’s contract up on the altar of commerce wasn’t really an offering at all, but that Theo wasn’t going to trade Manny for anything less than top dollar the whole time – and that the time limit for any serious shopping expires tomorrow. According to this article, Theo gives until the end of the business portion of the Winter Meetings – ostensibly tomorrow – for any of the parties of rumored interest to make a good deal. After the meetings, the Sox will listen to offers, but they won’t be actively looking for a trading partner. Even better, those teams who had expressed interest – the Padres, the Dodgers, the Giants, the Mariners (yeah, that one was news to me, too) don’t seem interested in buying at the Sox selling price…so Manny in Boston should be safe.
My favorite part about all of this Manny-related news is Theo saying to the media, “did you guys really think we were going to trade Manny for crap? He’s one of the biggest run producers ever; we’d be nuts to trade him for anything less than equal value. I can’t believe you guys thought we were stupid enough not to see that. Screw you guys. I mean that.” Is it still possible Boston will sign JD Drew to a large contract, or that Julio Lugo is our last, best hope for a stable infield next year? Yes, yes it is. But somehow I can face all of that potential for bad things knowing that Manny will still be batting fourth in 2007.
P.S.: Best wishes to Jon Lester!
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