Quote:
Originally Posted by guccilvr
eh.. I dunno. I wouldn't want it to go that far. There's just no way to replace Manny. Seriously, I don't know of anyone they can just trade for and get the same production out of. Think about it, everytime Manny gets pissed at the front office, what happens? He blows his numbers up. It's almost like a little game that Boston plays with him. He's just too good to lose right now. I'd even go so far as saying they should pick up his option for next year.
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Well, I would definitely separate this year from next year as far as his production. There are something like 50 some games left, lets call it 1/3 of the season. If Manny is still the 30/100 guy that he's been, he may hit 10 hr and 35 RBI in the next two months. If you get a halfway decent player to "replace" him you may not get a 30/100 guy, but it could be a 20/80 guy. That 20/80 guy could be projected to hit something like 7/25 over the that same two months, so we're talking about the rest of the team making up 3/10 over two months. Now you could argue intangibles (Manny is "clutch" e has good postseason numbers, whatever) but there are also PLENTY of negative intangibles about the Manny experience.
Hey, I know that the dude can rake, and he always seems to do so when he fights with management, but I think that he is really wearing out his welcome, plus he is becoming less and less reliable. Every time he wants to send a message to management he does something when they play the yankees, because he knows that irks them the most.
Problem is, it's damn hard to find or get good sluggers nowdays, and Manny Papi have been one of the best 3,4 tandems ever.