Monday, March 1, 2010

Dodgers Spend Time in Divorce Court, End Marriage With Manny


There’s much to dislike about Manny Ramirez, from the absurd drug-related bust to the ridiculous antics, to the worthless quitter he is.

Losing much sleep on whether he’ll return next season to Dodgertown is pointless, and dwelling on the disturbing topic creates a ruckus with spring training a week away.

Look, I despise Ramirez. The so-called slugger is viewed as a shameful impostor after he contaminated the game and violated the league’s drug policy.

Long removed from the sympathetic love, all the foolish adulations were blown out of proportion when the naïve fans sat in the Mannywood section and rewarded Ramirez for being a dope rather than being Manny.

He used a female fertility drug to produce artificial testosterone, shaming himself in the midst of a pathetic scam, but naïve fans advocated that cheating and throwing hissy-fits were permitted.

Shouldn’t the Dodgers faithful be tired and burned out of the marketing stunt as well as Ramirez’s prediction for the season? Let’s give our props to Boston fans, having courage to wave good-riddance to the self-centered, arrogant, egomaniacal bust.

It’s worth mentioning that he forced the Red Sox to trade him to a desperate Dodgers organization. Considering that the embattled general manager Ned Colletti's job was on the line for his failure to acquire a big-name slugger, he assumed that Ramirez was a suit in making an aggressive surge for the pennant.

Turns out, he deceived owner Frank McCourt when the news surfaced that he had used substances falsifying his natural strength.

He’s a con artist who believed he could get away with all of his insidious misdeeds, a shameless act crippling baseball.

More disturbingly, during the offseason he re-signed with the Dodgers for a $45 million, two-year contract.

So this is how he repays the organization, forecasting he may not re-sign with the team that took a risk when it reached an agreement to acquire a problematic Ramirez.

Shame on him for being the biggest sleaze in baseball, but even worst a fortune teller doubting he’ll play in Los Angeles next season.

To tell you the truth, his unnecessary baggage is a heavy burden and any team with sound judgment would jettison the cancerous superstar.

His frivolous antics are self-destructive, his arrogance defines selfishness, his drug habits define stupidity and overvalues. Longer than usual, he seems to be turning his back on the Dodgers, just as when he played for the Red Sox.

What happened this past offseason almost seems like the Dodgers hit a financial crisis. Suddenly, the Dodgers are spending ample time at Divorce Court, becoming the biggest soap opera in sports.

If there are any true fans sporting Dodgers blue, it’s because most of them are willing to invest in a ticket just for the beer, the all-you-can-eat pavilion, and Dodger Dogs.

The thing about the Dodgers is, it’s a franchise with enough interruptions and to avoid further burdens, now is a good time to divorce Ramirez.

If there’s one noticeable issue sabotaging a disoriented franchise, it’s an undermining payroll in which has already been projected to downsize as the McCourts battle over ownership of the troubled franchise.

Between Manny and the McCourts, it has turned the most exciting team in Hollywood into a Mannywood Defraud Script, a dramatic and endless movie.

Two movies to watch for during the regular-season are the McCourt’s Battle and Mannywood Defraud Script.

As fans, you should anticipate action-packed drama off the field rather than on the field, and laugh at the buffoon of the majors. He is, Manny Being a Dope.

His crazy antics were a nuisance, just as his drug usage was a disgrace stealing all attention away from the incredible ride in the regular-season with the absence of Ramirez. While he served a 50-game suspension for juicing the game, the role players lifted to stardom and confirmed how dominant they were without Manny.

The only reason we’ve dealt with the stupid Mannywood nonsense, is because it was a way to promote the Dodgers as a franchise, a marketing ploy attracting fans to purchase tickets, dreadlock hairpieces and No. 99 jerseys.

That was a real shame, having more to look forward to. Without him, the role players flourished, without him, there were fewer distractions, and without him the Dodgers won a significant amount of games.

That, of course, means the Dodgers are fine without Manny’s long balls, given its strong depth of sumptuous hitters.

But lately, the endless uproar is encompassing whether Manny wears a Dodgers uniform next season, corralling a distraught episode adding to laughable turmoil. All of the sudden, spring training erupts into media mayhem.

Now, all curiosity is on Ramirez with uncertainty striking the team at the worst possible time. It’s bad timing to stir up havoc, but it’s good timing to reduce chaos by trading him. In likelihood, it’s difficult to imagine Ramirez returning next season.

Maybe the Dodgers finally have working brain cells to realize he’s a contiguous disease spreading around the clubhouse. There’s a cure, perhaps, if the franchise sends him away in the final year of his contract.

What are they missing? He hasn’t been the same since his return last season. Quite simply, his hitting percentage has declined mightily.

As he ages, he cannot ground the ball efficiently on his wobbly knees in which the Dodgers may want to consider trading him to an American League team.

About three months from now, he’ll turn 38 and his age is starting to show, not nearly as quick to ground and retrieve the ball in left field.

If he doesn’t retire at the end of the season, he may play for an AL team and could benefit within a struggling offense as a designated hitter.

Before his suspension last season, he was hitting .348, but finished the season at .290. Off to a good start, he hit six homers and drove in 20 runs in 27 games, but returned to the batting order sluggishly. He hit only 13 homers and drove in 43 runs in 77 games.

Being an asterisk and a worthless S.O.B., the Dodgers didn’t miss out.

Instead, it called for distraction. This never was a lovable marriage, but a cancerous relationship.

There’s nothing worth regretting when the divorce papers are final.

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