In a recent article titled Papelbon on Manny: It's Like Cancer, Jonathan Papelbon criticized former teammate Manny Ramirez on his attitude. In the article, Papelbon is quoted as saying “You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ballgame, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening.”
Then Papelbon goes onto explain that the Boston Red Sox were not afraid to get rid of Ramirez. His strongest quote against Manny is this:
"Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us.
"And after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. We got Jason Bay, Johnny Ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball—and it was like a breath of fresh air, man! Awesome! No question."
Basically, it's what has been known about Manny, and I applaud Papelbon for speaking out against the slugger. Although Papelbon may be in trouble for using the term "cancer," in reality that's what Manny is. He brings his team down, and it's only when Manny wants to play hard that the team will be successful; if Manny is unhappy, he's going to let the whole team down.
It was shown in Boston when he didn't hustle on fly balls or run out ground balls.
Yes, Ramirez may have still put out the numbers, but any fan of baseball, whether a Red Sox fan or other team's fan, could clearly see there was very little effort on Manny's part—he was being selfish.
It should also be noted that Papelbon was in the right for waiting for Ramirez to leave Boston before calling him out. It's one thing to call out an ex-teammate, but to call out a teammate is really not the best thing to do.
When you have problems with teammates and they are still on the team, you're better off communicating with them in private over those matters.
Manager Terry Francona didn't condone the actions of Papelbon, but he did state that Papelbon knew better than to call out a teammate. Although, the funny thing is, even though Francona did state that if he has a problem with a player he would take him into his office, he is quoted as saying "As an organization, we do what we think is in the best interests of our ball club. That’s what we did. That’s what we’ll continue to do. The moves we make, I think that speaks volumes enough."
The move to move Manny did speak volumes. It stated that the Red Sox organization was tired of Manny's antics and it was time to sever the relationship. The Dodgers are the next victims.
Papelbon should be congratulated by the fans of Boston as well as his teammates. Manny is no doubt a great player, but his actions have every right to be questioned.
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