+1

-spence

Not anymore. The last one of those cookie cutter stadiums from the 70s is Shea, and it's in its final season. Even Dodger Stadium isn't as big as it used to be. The Stick, Riverfront, Three Rivers, The Vet, Olympic Field, Busch II, the Astrodome, all gone.

Very few stadiums have as big a left field as Yankee Stadium. Manny did OK there over the years. Jacobs Field was pretty spacious in left, too.

Adios muchachos. I don't think it made them better talent-wise, but he didn't want to play for the Sox anymore and you could tell the rest of the team were sick of talking for him. Jason Bay is a pretty good hitter. Maybe not as good, but his production numbers are right there, and he never had a guy like Papi protecting him in the line up.

Manny played right field in Cleveland. RF at Jacobs is a little easier than LF there, but he wasn't that good a fielder back then. He had a gun for an arm, but wasn't very good at getting to balls. Left in Fenway is tailor made for him. He'll be fine in LA. There just aren't many really good left fielders in baseball anymore. And the fans there won't notice when he flubs a ball or doesn't hustle.

The part that scares me is Manny is a Free Agent at the end of the year and the Yankees will be waiting with a big fat check

I could only hope the Yankees sign him! His ego will not fit in that clubhouse with all the other egos!

At least he'll get rid of that "Predator Head" look...

The Yank-mees are welcome to him......Thats just what they need, ANOTHER guy that doesn't understand the "Team" concept of the game.

...possibility abounds. He is from the heights after alll...

The only way he winds up with the Yankees is if Hank Steinbrenner is more than just the clownish front man, and actually calls the shots there. Manny playing for a manager like Giradi--it would be hillarious to watch.

He's a better bet to wind up on the Mets if he plays in NY. Minaya, their GM, would love to add another Dominican to the roster.

He can't be any worse in left field there than Dave Kingman and George Foster were.

Just a guess--he didn't want to give up anyone to get Manny, he thinks they can win the East with what they have, and he will make a run at him as a free agent.

Manny had OK'd the trade option, but he was thinking that the D-Rays were the team in the trade. Oh well, I guess you better be careful what you wish for.
I can only hope he'll get back to a "team' mentality, but a leopard can't change his spots.

As for the Garciaparra comments, Manny had OK'd the Sox trade but may have been bluffing, thinking that they couldn't work out a trade.
I guess he's eating crow now.

As I've heard and stated numerous times in my lifetime: "No one is indespensible!"

I don't get the Pedro and Vaughn comparisons. They weren't unloaded as headaches. The were free agents whose offers from the Mets the Sox (wisely in both cases) refused to match. The Sox would probably have kept both--at what they thought was the right price.

Look--this is a business. It always has been a business. Anyone who has this romantic ideal that teams used to be run as civic ventures for the fans need only look to the history of the team that traded for Manny yesterday--how its scumbag onwer, miffed that he couldn't blackmail a new stadium at taxpayer expense out of NY City, took the most beloved franchise in professional sports away from the most loyal fans in sports and moved it a continent away--bringing his stooge Horace Stoneham and the Giants with him.

Owners held the upper hand for close to a century and could treat the players like dirt due to the reserve clause--"you'll play for us at our price, or you won't play at all". Now the players have the upper hand, and can force owners to trade them for below market value. But don't kid yourself--it always was just a business.

He once was a great player, he almost 37, his bat speed isnt what it was, is he finished, not hardly but I dont think he strikes the fear into pitchers he once did, especialy when he takes 3 consecutive strikes and his bat never leaves his shoulder...are the sox a better team with out him... probably not, but at least the players that take the field for each game will give it thier all, so if they loose, so be it,at least the game will be played as it was meant to be.... Bye bye Manny.. thank you for the memories, both good and bad.. time to move on...

Manny's a great bat .. I lost respect for him when he threw the old guy in the office down for not giving up more tickets .

I just heard that the Mets did express an interest, but the price would have been Beltran.

It'd be interesting to see what Beltran could have done at Fenway instead of the wind tunnel in Flushing.

Should have sent him to double A ball.