Red Sox Should Not Protest… Ramirez Was Them

On Sunday, Manny Ramirez shopped himself. “If the Red Sox are a better team without Manny Ramirez, they should trade me; I will not object.”

On Thursday, the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Pittsburgh Pirates concocted a swap. The Dodgers received Ramirez. The Red Sox received outfielder Jason Bay. The Pirates received a quintet of minor leaguers.

Ramirez’s reaction was blunt. “The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me,” said Ramirez. “During my years here, I've seen how they [the Red Sox] have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them to try to turn the fans against them. The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy. I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don't deserve me. I'm not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don't have peace here.”

Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti’s reaction was optimistic. “We figured we had to do it,” he said. “There was obviously a point in time that you have to make a major decision. We did and we were glad we did it. Hopefully it pays dividends. We're confident we've got one of the best hitters in baseball coming in here -- one of the best hitters of his generation from the right side. He's a champion, he's a winner, and we really couldn't be happier with trying to make the club better at this point in time than to do this. We wanted this player at least for the next two months, and hopefully longer. So we're willing to take the chance and go with this guy.”

Currently, the Red Sox are 61-48. The Dodgers are 54-54. In the American League East, the Red Sox trail the Tampa Bay Rays. In the National League West, the Dodgers trail, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Boston’s deficit is three contests. Los Angeles’ deficit is two contests.

During his career, Ramirez has batted .312 with 510 home runs and 1,672 runs batted in. This season, he has hammered .299 with 20 home runs and 99 runs batted in. “It's nice to see we've done something like this, to make a push for the next two months,” said Garciaparra. “I think he'll be just fine. Manny is really a simple person. He works extremely hard. He just wants to play baseball and go home and be with his family. How can you not respect and love a guy like that?”

In eight seasons, Ramirez and the Red Sox won two championships. They sparred and squabbled. Boston may criticize him. They may excoriate him. They cannot ignore the obvious. Since 2004, Ramirez epitomized the Red Sox. Arrogant. Empirical. Smug.