I've turned the corner on the whole situation a little bit over the last couple days, personally. I had been pretty much dead set against the whole thing. But I never put my thoughts down, so I might as well do so now. Here are(were) my reasons why I do(did) not want the Mets to sign Manny Ramirez:
The fans in Boston worshipped the ground this man walked on, he lived like a king, was paid a hefty ransom for his services, won two World Series, and he was - for some unknown reason - itching to get out of town. It was an annual rite of winter to hear about his trade request. Now, the last year he wanted a contract extension (raise) but prior to that his unhappiness was just accepted as "Manny Being Manny" and noone questioned it. Why was he so unhappy in Boston. And if he was miserable in Boston, why on earth would he be any happier in New York? If you ask me, low-key L.A. is the perfect spot for his demeanor. No one out there gets too worked up one way or another and if Manny wants to pout for God knows what reason, then he'll be able to do it pretty quitely. However, if he comes to New York, and doesn't dance with Jose Reyes one night, it will be fodder for the clowns who call into Schmuck Francesca's show for a week and a half. Although I've heard a few statements to the contrary, Manny Ramirez is a jerk. A guy who can hit the way he does leaves a playoff contending team, and his teammates don't miss him. His fans kinda celebrate! Hey, Mets fans: Why do we want this guy on our team? To be perfectly honest, I have had a lot of trouble liking the players on the Mets for the last year and a half. They have acted like babies too often, haven't shown much passion, so why do we need to import another unlovable clown?
Now, I won't lie that there is a part of me who whould have a bit of an adrenaline rush if Ramirez did find his way to Flushing. There's no arguing that this guy hits, and would be an inarguable difference-maker in the Mets dubious lineup. And, this guy would make it a little bit more fun to go to Citicorp Financial Field next season. And isn't fun the whole point of the whole thing? He'd put the fannies in the seats, boost the ratings on Snigh TV, and for that reason is probably even worth the financial outlay.
The tiebreaker between the point/counterpoint above is the sky high risk of yet another albatross around the Mets necks in 2010 and 2011 and perhaps beyond). I don't know what kind of contract would seal the deal for Manny to the Mets, and by pretty much all accounts it's not happening anyway, but thought of what kind of nightmare it would be to try and unload him if we had to is just something I don't want to explore. Bo Bonilla and Mo Vaughn fill up enough of the Mets history books with that kind of story.
Still... it would be a little bit more exciting than the signings of Tim Redding, Freddie Garcia, Alex Cora, Rob Mackowiak, and Cory Sullivan, huh?
