In today’s Globe Gordon Edes reveals an interesting development in the Manny trade:
“Within an hour after Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein informed Manny Ramírez he had been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Ramírez’s agent, Scott Boras, called the Sox back, according to a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations. If the Sox dropped the option years on his contract – which they had agreed to do if they traded him – Boras said Ramírez would not be a problem the rest of the season. For the Sox, the source said, Ramírez’s pledge of good behavior only served as a tacit admission that his disruptive conduct of the last couple of weeks had been calculated, and they had had good cause to suspect more was in the offing if they did not trade him.”
Remember the meeting between Boras and Manny in Anaheim? It was the series after that discussion where Manny began to sit out. Boras most likely told Manny that he needed to make the Sox not pick up his option for next season so he could get a long term contract. His plan worked. When Manny talked to the media in Boston he said they were not going to pick up his options but they were not going to trade him because “they knew what they had here.” Manny was sure he would finish the season in Boston, so much so that he was sleeping when the trade was announced. The Boras phone call to the Sox shows that Manny had overplayed his hand and did not think the Sox would go all the way with a trade. There is equal blame here for Boras influencing Manny and Manny taking his advice. Either way, both of them put money above the game so they deserve each other.
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