22
2011
Strange Happenings On A Freaky Friday
An article by Craig Lerner
I was amazed yesterday at the free agent signings of outfielders Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon by the Tampa Bay Rays.
My first instinct was that they had gone bonkers, but it only took a few minutes to realize that both signings actually made good sense for the Rays who are still reeling from the losses of all-star outfielder Carl Crawford and the power hitting Carlos Pena.
The price was right. Each of them agreed to one-year contracts, with Ramirez earning $2 million and Damon getting $5.25 million with a $750,000 attendance bonus. That said, I’m a little curious as to why Damon got the bigger bonanza instead of Ramirez. Incidentally, both players are represented by Scott Boras.
Even though he has lost a step in the speed department, Damon will most likely bat leadoff, while Manny Ramirez, arguably one of the greatest hitters in this era, will bat in the middle of the order with emerging superstar Evan Longoria. Great job by the Rays in trying to make the best of what looked like a hopeless situation after winning the AL East last season.
While observing some of the banter and reaction to this from Mets fans, I expectedly found concern over Ramirez getting $2 million compared to $1.1 million for the newest Met Scott Hairston. I also found many who wondered why Manny came so cheap, and other Mets fans quick to respond that he was washed up as well as being a trouble-maker. Washed up? Really? Somehow, my recollection of Manny last season was not one that he was washed up. I decided to go to FanGraphs and baseball Reference to see if the statistics would bear this out.
I decided to look at a three year trend and here is that data.
| Year | G | PA | R | HR | RBI | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 153 | 654 | 102 | 37 | 121 | .332 | .430 | .601 | 1.031 | 165 |
| 2009 | 104 | 431 | 62 | 19 | 63 | .290 | .418 | .531 | .949 | 153 |
| 2010 | 90 | 320 | 38 | 9 | 42 | .298 | .409 | .460 | .870 | 138 |
As you can see the statistics do show a distinct decline as indicated by his declining OPS and OPS+, but clearly these are not the numbers of a player who is washed up.
As a matter of fact, to strengthen my argument I will turn to the New York Mets.
Last season, Manny Ramirez would have led the Mets in OBP, OPS and OPS+ and it’s not even close.
His .409 OBP was 52 points higher than Josh Thole who led the Mets with a .357 mark, slightly ahead of David Wright who had a .354 OBP.
His .870 OPS was 14 points higher the David Wright who led the team with a .856 mark, and no other Met finished had an OPS over .800.
His 138 OPS+ was seven points higher than Wright’s 131 OPS+ and the next best mark on the Mets after that came from Ike Davis who had a 115 OPS+.
If you want to make the argument that Manny Ramirez isn’t worth his built-in drama, that’s fine and you’ll get no argument from me. But to suggest that this is a ballplayer who is washed up, is really just deluding yourself.
Manny Ramirez is still a top level performer and to get him for the bargain price of $2 million dollars, makes him the absolute steal of the offseason in my opinion.
Great job by Andrew Friedman, GM and Vice President of the Tampa Bay Rays. in what was a very strange Friday that also saw the Blue Jays unload Vernon Wells and his awful contract to the Los Angeles Angels.
They will undoubtedly come to regret that trade and I can’t imagine what Halos GM Tony Reagins was thinking? People are strange.
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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Manny Ramirez is known for his hitting and driving in runs, not his OBP. He’s not a leadoff hitter.
He’s a great hitter so his OBP will be good anyway. He is being signed to drive in runs, not walk.
The fact that Manny Ramirez had 42 RBIs in 265 ABs last season is more important to know if I want to sign him than how many times he walked. I don’t want Manny Ramirez to walk, I want him driving in runs.
If you dont get on base but you drive in runs, you’re Mike Jacobs.
If you get on base and drive in runs, you’re Manny Ramirez. Joe Mauer doesn’t hit lead off but you’ll take him because of his OBP over Victor Martinez in the middle of your lineup
ummmm…..I tend to think one will take Joe Mauer over Victor Martinez for, um, different reasons.
The Mike Jacobs ref is awful example.
If you want to have a good team, your middle of the order guys need to both drive in runs and get on base.
great hitters hit strikes and walk if pitched around. that’s why bonds and mcgwire had relatively low rbi totals for the amount of hrs they hit, nobody would pitch to them in tight situations.
guys who swing at bad pitches in rbi situations still get the rbi’s, but the fact that they are exchanging walks for outs shows in their lower obp. that’s why obp can be a valuable stat in addition to rbi.
it’s what separates the mannys from the wrights in my mind. you should be able to relate to that.
another way to look at it is this. If the guy is patient and takes the walk, the next guy up has even more men on base (more RBI opportunities). But, if the 1st guy makes an out, there are less men on and (obviously) more outs!
and like you noted, the 1st guy probably has about the same number of RBis, if he is swinging at balls out of the strike zone.
but even if he gets a few more (sac fly here and there, lucky base hit to drive in a run), the extra outs will offset the benefit of those runs, specifically because the next guy has less to work with (or at best, same # on base, same # outs).
yeah.
that’s why i think it’s worthless and lazy to try to convince people that a guy is good with one number.
i think OPS come closest, but give me postion played, runs, rbi, and ops, and i can pretty much figure the rest out.
Oh my the happy little metsie francis wouldn’t want Roberto Clenmente nor Yogi Berra on his team. Another happy metsie living in his delusional world of the washed up gm. Roberto and Yogi not good enough to be Metsies!!!! You guys are so funny!!!!
you really do live off in your own little universe, don’t you?
clemente and Berra? What about ty cobb, is he in the mix too?
BTW, clemente had a career OBP of .359 and Berra .348, so they were far from OBP challenged.
and clemente is probably one of the most notorious bad ball hitters ever, so hard to compare him to anyone now.
and you sir, need to get a life. Aren’t there other philly fans that can tolerate you? Maybe you can get together, have some scrapple, and complain about Andy Reid.
#21 The Pride of Puerto Rico.
you forgot vladdy.
and if you are talking about just hitting, like I was, and i can take anybody from any era, i would take ruth over clemente in right, and piazza over berra behind the plate.
yes, piazza over berra. he didn’t win those world series by himself.
“…Ramirez, arguably one of the greatest hitters in this era…”
Arguably? Let’s lose that tired, over-used word.
you said it – i hate that term.
Thank you. There’s no argument about Manny being one of the best. If you claim someone IS the best–then you might use the dumb word. But people love to use it even when it’s just a comparison. While we’re at it, absolutely and awesome need to be banned, too.
It’s a perfect fit for both teams. Before anybody jumps on here and wets themselves over the fact the Mets didn’t sign Manny, please note not every player can be a NY Met nor do they all want to be.
Tampa Bay has 1 OF and 1 DH spot up for grabs. There is no competition, granted Manny is better than Pagan but the Mets would have to trade Pagan to make this work and why would you do that for 1 year of Manny at his age?
Manny fits Tampa because they have attendance issues and because he and Damon can platoon in the OF and DH along with possibly Jennings playing some OF.
When you’re Manny Ramirez you don’t sign as a free agent to sit on a National League bench. Not yet anyway.
manny also fits tampa for their know proliferation of strip clubs
win win
As a matter of fact little metsie jessup, no player wants to be a metsie anymore. they only become metsies because they have no other option.
I agree with everything in the article, but one sign of decline you didn’t point out is games played per season. He played 49 fewer games in ’09 than ’08, and 14 fewer in ’10 than ’09.
He’s still a dominating hitter, no doubt, but he is showing signs of wear and tear. Still, I agree, at $2 mil he’s the steal of the offseason.
Hi little metsie berbalerbs…you do understand that thise 50 game suspensions have a way of lowering your games played. he is the perfect metsie, don’t know why roids loving gm of yours didn’t sign him to play with that roided up suspended lousy lazy catcher that is now one of your faves.
i’d bet the plan is to just keep them healthy and unload them at the break to a contender for more prospects.
tampa is looking to 2015-2020 as dynasty years, and if you look at the bloat in ny and boston in that timeframe, they’ve got a real shot.
2020 francis… you meant that’s when your mwtsies might contend again after recuperating for the failures coming to queens under the washed up gm regime you know will soon learn to hate.
Personally I immediately thiought of 2 reasons why Hairston over Manny & neither one was saving 900K or so. I think the rational reasons could be either 1) managing fan expectations downward or 2) avoiding a strong potentially bad chemical reaction between TC’s new direction & Manny’s loosey stylezations.
Tom me bot are legitimate reasons since I do not believe the outcome difference between Hairston & Manny is a postseason berth.
I certainly believe Sandy believes this team will outperform expectations & if he’s correct, let’s say in third place @ ASG, those fans who chose not to attend may be seduced back whereas if they added Manny & some thought they were back to contention level, they’d be lost forever if a third place was the outcome. Thus by reducing expectation levels, poorer outcomes are more tolerated & may lead to gradual attendence increases rather than decreases by a more disappointed base.
Personally I’m anticipating between 82-85 win season in third place in front of Fish & Gnats, just behind ATL by a smidge(as my ceiling for this season, to which I shout… “LGM!”)
I think it has more to do with being able to actually play the OF well, including CF.
Can anyone here actually imagine Manny playing the outfield at Citi Field? Seriously? Never mind his crap attitude, his lack of hustle, or actually caring about anything other than himself. If you listed all the outfielders in MLB, and ranked them on whether you wanted them playing the outfield at Citi, Manny has to be at or near the bottom of that list. Way to many negatives to even CONSIDER putting him in a Mets uniform.
Sorry, way too many negatives…