Red Sox fans want to know if Manny Ramirez’s final days in Boston were on the up and up. Apparently MLB wants to know the same thing and is looking into how things unfolded around last week’s trade deadline.
Here’s why Selig’s office is looking into the matter:
The Red Sox had an option to retain Ramírez in 2009 for $20 million. They had the same option for 2010. Ramírez, who will turn 37 next season, wanted to be a free agent at the end of this season. His agent wanted the same thing. Boras inherited Ramírez’s old contract and stood to earn nothing until Manny signed a new one. It was in the interest of the player and the agent to have the options dropped.
Manny’s only leverage was withholding services and playing at half speed. So that’s what he did.
How do you prove that Manny was playing half-assed? Unless they find documentation that Boras ordered Ramirez to only go half speed so that he would be traded (and thus become a free agent at the end of the year), it’s going to be hard for the league to draw any conclusions from this situation.
It is nice, however, that the league cares enough to look into a dirty situation, because Stevie Wonder could see Manny was dogging it. Who knows, maybe the league will find some damning evidence and nail Boras and/or Ramirez.
