The following are reasons why I believe the Sox should and should not complete the waiver claim on Manny Ramirez.
Reasons for Manny:
1. Consistency The Sox have tried 13 different designated hitters this season, starting out with Mark Kotsay to Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko to now Mark Teahan. None have played more than 46 games to this point and Ozzie Guillen has even admitted that it was his call to not re-sign Jim Thome. The DH spot is batting .243 this season, with 16 home runs and 53 RBIs, which is tied for the sixth most by position for the Sox this seasons.
2. History Manny has statistically played better for the first few months of starting with a new team and why wouldn’t a guy who would welcome a trade to a contender in the White Sox. Manny has been in a playoff hunt before and would like to contend for his fourth playoff appearance in a row and 12th of his career. This many knows how to play down the stretch and is a .285 lifetime batter with 29 home runs and 78 RBIs in his career in the postseason.
3. Proving Himself It is a well known fact than Manny thinks about himself a lot and why not have a change of scenery to show other teams that he is Manny of old. With him wanting to play another two seasons, as he has reported, Manny needs to show that he can still drive in runs and could become a formidable DH for an American League team. He is too slow to play in the outfield and everyone in baseball knows that, which is why he cleared waivers from NL teams.
Reason for not getting Manny:
1. Manny Being Manny Today, Manny gets ejected for arguing a called strike and left the game as if he did not want to play, after four straight days of not starting. This is but another reason why I do not want Manny on the South Side, because if Manny doesn’t get what Manny wants, he tends to be immature and throw a fit and manager Ozzie Guillen will not accept cry babies.
2. Money Word on the street says that Manny wants a contract extension to get traded, don’t think the Sox are willing to make another contract extension before they someone produce, especially since Manny has been on the disabled list three times this season. Nonetheless, I do not know if Jerry Reinsdorf will want to pay the 4+ million dollars due to Manny the rest of the season nor would want to give up anymore of the minor league system for a rent-a-player.
3. Speed or Lack there of it This White Sox team is exactly the way Ozzie imagined it with a couple of players that could steal bases and take chances. By inserting Manny in the lineup, you would make your 3-4-possibly 5 holes being the slowest batters potentially in the league. This could prove fatal to the Sox, who haven’t been as much of a home run hitting team as they have been in the past.
Last Word on Manny
Whether or not the White Sox are able to pull the trigger on this deal is yet to be seen but with the Dodgers losing a series to the Rockies this weekend and the Sox having a lack of offense and clutch hitting in today’s series finale shows that the Sox need some more offensive production. The only other need for the Sox is some relief pitching help, which may have to wait until Wednesday’s series finale with the Indians when the rosters expand to 40 and Thornton is eligible to come off the DL in time for the series in Boston.
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