I considered letting this go, but figured some readers might wonder why I was taking a pass on the Manny Ramírez situation.
Assuming Ramírez behaved as has been described — shoving traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the ground, or hard enough that McCormick fell — then he should have been suspended without pay for three games.
It’s really not a hard call. And I don’t like it that Terry Francona and Theo Epstein appear to be more worried that Ramírez would go south on them for a month than they are about doing the right thing.
I don’t want to make too much of this. But the Sox are making too little of it.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
Dave Bonner
Out of curiosity, where are you getting the 3 games without pay number from? Comparable suspensions of other players?
Dan Kennedy
Dave: I pulled it out of my … er, head. It seems like a reasonable compromise being doing nothing and punishing him much more harshly — which I do think you could easily justify.
mike_b1
Dan, why should we on the outside be so bent out of shape over what truly is an internal Red Sox matter. This did not happen on the field. The Globe didn’t even have the story until they read about it in the ProJo. If this happened at Fidelity, for example, we would never hear about it. The issue isn’t whether Manny did anything wrong. The issue is whether the Sox punish him. Well, the Sox say they’ll handle it internally. McCormick isn’t complaining (and some employees in such situations would). So why should we care what they do?
Don, American
Those darn Rays. They got the Sox fighting among themselves. Play ball!
Dan Kennedy
Mike: That’s like a Providence resident saying we wouldn’t have even heard about it if the Globe didn’t have it first. I’m not sure what your point is.Look, a lot of the Red Sox’ cultural capital is derived from what we think of them as people. If it was all about performance and nothing but, they could play before a few dozen fans for minimum wage.As for McCormick not complaining, he’s not exactly in the driver’s seat here.
mike_b1
I brought up the point about the Projo because after all, this isn’t Watergate. This was a minor altercation. Had we never heard of it, not a single person’s life would be changed for the worse. No one even went to a doctor. The real question is why a guy as strong as Manny apparently couldn’t knock out Abe Simpson.Speaking of Abe (McCormick), there are plenty of people who might have made a big deal over something like this, regardless of their position. McCormick didn’t. Are you saying we shouldn’t take him at his word?The team endured much worse during the Carl Everett years and came out of it just fine. Ever consider that maybe instead of castigating the team for how it handles its employees, perhaps we should appreciate that in this era of 24/7 media coverage, with every misdeed splashed into the news cycle for days, the fans’ love for their teams is even greater than ever. I think that says more about the media being out of touch with the audience than it does about the public’s misguided acceptance of the failings of their fellow humans who happen to be athletes.
Dan Kennedy
Mike: I give you the Patriots, who are flushing their good name down the toilet and will, I predict, start paying for it financially and in terms of fan support.
mike_b1
On what basis would you predict that? The hue and cry against Belichick was so great, I think if anything it consolidated the fan base against the outraged media. And football players, like other athletes, have from time to time been known to do drugs, get arrested, etc. Remember Ted Johnson was arrested for beating his wife, and also accused the team of sending him out to play following dozens of concussions. The fans yawned. They care more about contracts than criminals.That’s a Hail Mary you’re throwing, Dan.
Steve
A few years back, Globe columnist Ron Borges smacked another reporter (aged 60+, with a cane and a neck brace) at a Las Vegas press conference and a small scuffle insued. As I recall (and my recollection may be incorrect), there were no charges filed and Borges was not disciplined by the Globe.This seems like a comparable circumstance (company star initiates physical altercation with a much older man, quickly broken up with no charges filed).Maybe my recollections are wrong, and maybe the Globe was too lenient. Does someone here have a better memory of the incident?The Manny incident happened in the clubhouse, and custom is that things in the clubhouse stay in the clubhouse and are dealt with in the clubhouse, and I wouldn’t expect this to be any different.From what has been in the media about the incident, I would think it warranted a 1- or 2-game suspension. I don’t think we’ll see that, though.
Anonymous
“don, american”Why did you have to add Sox bashing to your list of idiocies? Don’t you live in California? Aren’t there local blogs there you can pee into?
bostonph
I’ve been trying to remember the official Sox treatment of Wil Cordero after his arrest for domestic abuse, but no luck I remember the fans booing him and a whole lot of phone jokes. According to Wikipedia, he missed 8 games after the incident, but the Sox didn’t suspend him until after he was convicted. This jibes with my memory of him being released as an embarrassment.I don’t think Manny has even had charges leveled, no?
Anonymous
Some guys you can punish, some you can’t. Is there any doubt that Manny wouldn’t react well to a suspension or fine no matter how meager? Where would this team be if he pulled a muscle that benched him for three weeks or so(in retaliation)? They are already down a key player in Ortiz. I think RS will exercise their option for Manny’s services in ’09, but cut him lose in ’10.
bostonph
Dang. Found it in the Times. Why on earth would the NYT archive search be better than the Globe’s? In any case, here it is:Cordero was arrested June 11 after a fight with his wife, Ana, that left her nose bloodied. Boston kept him out of the lineup for eight days, then returned him during a trip from June 20-25. The next day, Boston learned that a previous wife had accused him of abuse and the team suspended him.
Anonymous
My proposal: Manny should pay the man’s salary for a year. In other words, double his pay for a year. That seems like a fair compromise. (And perhaps a suspension.)
Bill Toscano
My mind boggles at some of the comments here.And it boggles even more that I agree completely with Dan.1. If someone I worked with shoved me to the floor, you can pretty well figure the cops would be involved.I know that probably wasn’t an option.2. Why does it matter where it came from?3. I believe Borges was punished for that. I cannot remember what it was. And that didn’t involve a co-employee. Again, the guy should have called the cops.
mike_b1
Bill, sounds like you’d call the cops over just about anything.But what you would do isn’t the point. Jack McCormick didn’t call the police. Michael Katz (the guy Ron Borges went all ape over) didn’t, either. (And no, Borges was not punished, at least not in a way that was made public — see the difference here?). For all we know, the Sox will quietly sit Manny down a game and dock him a day’s pay, but do so without making a display of it. After all, Manny’s not Cal Ripken. He gets days off. Whose to say whether the next one is, in fact, a suspension? And again, what no one wants to address is why a private business needs to make public how it handles employee issues.In fact, this is a media-driven story, and nothing else. The fans DON’T care.
mike_b1
Btw, anyone remember what happened when Will McDonough assaulted Raymond Clayborn?
Don, American
Anon 8:l3Touchy, touchy. Go down in the Sox dugout, and hit somebody. Don’t try to take it out on me.
bogofree
Nice that you have worked your way into the head of Tito and “Boy Wonder.” Guess you know all about the inner workings of Sox management and exactly what went on behind closed doors. Think this will look good when Manny trolls for his two year option at 20Mil a year? This is Manny stealing from the “Patches” Kennedy playbook.