I am no Manny appologist, I'd just like to put my 2¢ in...
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Originally Posted by Arno
The fact is the guy is lazy. He flat doesn't hustle.
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These 2 things should probably not be equated. There could be any number of reasons (or bad excuses) for Manny's curious lack of hustle at time. I don't believe laziness is one of them. He routinely shows up at the ballpark early and takes xtra batting practice, etc. It's more likely something like, "Oh sh*t! I didn't make solid contact and get a base hit. I bounced it to the shortstop and he's definately gonna throw me out at 1st anyway." (bad excuse)
As far as lack of hustle in the field goes, we saw too much of it, but I can't think of any particular times when it cost a run, and manny Did lead the majors in outfield assists (no doubt more a product of his quick realease than anything else). we've also seen him crash into more than one wall to try and make a play.
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Originally Posted by Arno
If I was a Red Sox fan AND could choose my left fielder, it'd be someone like a healthy Gabe Kapler for example. The guy plays hard and gives his team mates and the fans 100% all the time. And there are others... that while they don't have the bat that Manny Ramirez has, you can be sure they won't lay down on their team either.
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Everyone likes Kapler. His teamates, coaches, fans, media. And it's certainly true that he hustles on every play all the time. But the reality of the situation is that a team needs baserunners, RBI and homers. Players like Manny are few and far between in those categories.
I go to between 10 & 20 games per year. I don't wanna be driving home saying, "Well.. it's too bad they didn't score with all those chances they had, but at least they're nice guys who tried really hard!"