Good Info From Peter Gammons
The cell worked, the BlackBerry worked, and, yes, the Manny Ramirez updates were available, as well as most everything else right down to three emails on my BlackBerry while I was on the podium assuring me that nothing was going to happen.
Yes, the Phillies offered Billy Wagner for Juan Pierre and Barry Zito, but he wasn’t going to get moved. Kevin Millwood was a dead issue by Saturday morning, and when the Mariners couldn’t do Eddie Guardado to the Indians by Friday noon, Bob Wickman was off the market as well.
The one mess was the six player deal between Boston and Colorado that the Rockies thought was done Friday night. Theo Epstein has long liked Larry Bigbie, and the Rockies did the Bigbie deal with Baltimore to move him to Boston with first baseman Ryan Shealy for Adam Stern, Abe Alvarez, Kelly Shoppach and a minor leaguer.
The offer that was faxed from Boston to Colorado was not signed, or a final document. It was negotiated by assistant GM Josh Byrnes because Epstein was consumed by the Ramirez trade and trying to get Ramirez calmed down and repair his damaged feelings. It never occurred to Epstein that a simple baseball deal that did not involve money was something ownership would consider objectionable. But, indeed, ownership and its assistant, Larry Lucchino, did object, because they were focused on the Ramirez deal.
So Lucchino nixed the deal, which — rightly — incensed Dan O’Dowd and the Rockies. But when Lucchino called Colorado owner Charlie Monfort, he threw Byrnes under the bus and did not accept the responsibility of killing it.
By then, there was very little chance of a deal happening for Ramirez, and, fortunately by then, Epstein had repaired much of the damage, with the help of Kevin Millar and David Ortiz. The only way there would be a deal is if Boston could reach its endgame of Mike Cameron, which involved a fourth team, the Reds, and Adam Dunn; in that, Manny would have gone to the Mets; Hanley Ramirez and Mets players would have gone to Tampa Bay; Lastings Milledge and Anibel Sanchez would have gone to Cincinnati; and Boston would have received Cameron, Dunn, Aubrey Huff and Trever Miller. Tampa Bay had killed it by Saturday morning by reminding people why they are the worst franchise in modern baseball history and upping requests, and Reds GM Dan O’Brien had serious restraints because of the impending ownership change; he could not even respond to Yankee inquiries about and Junior Griffey.
In the end, Boston management is happy with the team it has, especially since Jon Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen contributed and they know that with Jon Lester, Sanchez (0.98 in Double-A) and Craig Hansen, they have some of the best high-end pitchers in the game.
And Manny is again happy, for now. There had been simmering discontent brewing for weeks. He didn’t run some balls out hard. He had Pedro Martinez, still bitter about being out of Boston, in his ear. And some of the claustrophobia is justified, for the area is so Red Sox crazy he cannot go out to dinner. Epstein sympathized with him. He can’t, either.
He had asked to be traded, then came the blowup in St. Petersburg. His teammates say Ramirez felt Terry Francona did him wrong because after the Tuesday game when Trot Nixon was injured, Francona didn’t ask Manny to play, but sent coach Brad Mills. Francona was in a tough position, for while he usually protects his players, he had to face other veterans who were upset with Ramirez.
On Wednesday, Red Sox management agreed to keep quiet. At 8 a.m. Thursday, Lucchino did just the opposite, and Ramirez felt that he’d been lied to. When Ortiz and Millar talked to Manny, they knew Francona had already talked to him, and they told him not to worry about Lucchino. “He knows Larry wants him out of there,” says one Red Sox player. “But he was told, ‘Look, Larry hates all the players. Ask Jason Varitek. Ask anyone. You’re not alone.’ ”
For now, it’s all good, and Millar says, “Manny will be the best hitter in baseball the rest of the way.”
Peter Gammons, ESPN
August 4th, 2005 at 8:58 am
Hey Pete, thanks for writing. I read this blog often and have yet to see you post on here. I’ve been staying clear of ESPN because you have too many ads. I will check it out more than I remembered you are a fairly intelligent person, now.