Opinion

In 2003, the Boston Red Sox put Manny Ramirez on waivers. They had enough of his antics and were displeased with his eyesore of a contract. He was still in the heart of his career, slugging 40 homers and driving in 130 annually at that time. But the team didn’t want him in their clubhouse anymore. They willed anyone to take him off their hands.

Almost three months ago, Nationals Stadium was filled for one of the only times in its existence. Not because the Nationals were playing well, but because the most sought-after prospect in baseball, Stephen Strasburg, was set to make his debut.

The day was June 8, 2010. The opposing team was the Pittsburgh Pirates. If the uniforms and players faces were unidentifiable, you would have thought that it was Game 7 of the World Series. And with all the excitement, nobody was let down.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992. That's nearly twenty years. 

It was made known that Stephen Strasburg will most likely undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow. 

The Nationals award Strasburg with a $15.1 million contract after being selected No. one overall in the 2009 MLB draft.

The following are reasons why I believe the Sox should and should not complete the waiver claim on Manny Ramirez.

Reasons for Manny:

After an early August sweep of the division-leading Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals have been on a crash course to disaster. 

In that span, the Cards have lost 9 of 14 games. Playing teams like the Cubs, Pirates, and Brewers, the Cardinals have been shocking. 

When will the sleeping giant wake up? 

There are many deserving pitchers for the Cy Young award in the American League this year, but there is one pitcher who has stood above the rest this season.

King Felix.

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez is the AL leader in innings pitched this season with 204.1 and strikeouts with 192. Felix has a 2.47 ERA this season, good for third in the AL and a WHIP of 1.11, tying him for third in the league.

After the Red Sox won the first game in Tampa, 3-1, behind a solid effort from Jon Lester (even with his three wild pitches) hope had begun to spring forth that they could overtake the Rays and still get the wild card.

I am not counting them as "dead" yet, but last night's 3-2 loss in extra innings may have been the straw to break the Sox's back.

There is a reason why people say "You can't predict baseball." Teams have to actually play out all 162 games. And one day in August does not make or break a team's chances in October.

The undisputed home run king Crash Davis! has some company.

For real, Crash may be a character in Bull Durham, one of the all-time great baseball movies, but Charlie Lisk of the Frontier League has set a record himself.

On Thursday night, Lisk rewrote the Frontier League record books by hitting his 87th Frontier League home run.

That homer pushed him past Morgan Burkhart for number one on the list, and let me say that is something to be very proud of.