Excellent Manny-in-Boston retrospective

[WilliamPitt]

http://confessionalpoet.typepad.com/cursed_to_first/2008/08/manny-scrapbook.html

Dial-up caveat: Lotsa pics.

Enjoy.

[Forkboy]

1. He was a lot of fun to watch and all, but I won't miss him.

Too much silliness, and you could feel it in the air this year, something different from previous years. You could tell his time here was up.

I was perfectly happy with the Sox getting Bay in return, and this weekend showed why. And it seemed like the clubhouse chemistry that had been so prominent over the last few years was already coming back.

Dodgers fans, enjoy the ride Manny will give you. You may never see a better two strike hitter, and his homers are things of beauty. But be prepared to have to put up with a LOT of dumbness too. Like the Sox, the Dodgers will be bending over backwards to please him. Good luck.

[joeybee12]

2. Seems like he went from being a jerk to an asshole...

...for whatever reason nothing was gonna please him about the Red Sox this year, so it was time for him and the Sox to part. I agree with what you say about him and the Dodgers--he will do quite well, especially at first, but at some point he will feel slighted and not given enough attention, respect or whatever, and the relationship there will sour as well.

[rockymountaindem]

3. Who's to say they will pick up the option on his contract?

Or is there a part of this story I've missed?

[hughee99]

4. From what I heard, they agreed not to

perhaps it was a condition so he'd allow the trade. Scott Boras wants one more chance to cash in with Manny, and he'll do better now than after a year or two. I wouldn't be surprised to see LA as one of the top bidders, though. I'm sure Boras advised Manny to "play nice" while in LA. He needs the big market bidders to jack up the price, and Boston won't be involved.