Manny Being Manny

Yesterday was the non-waiver trade deadline for Major League Baseball. It is basically the last chance that teams have to trade players without passing them through waivers first. The big deal that was made yesterday sent Manny Ramirez from Boston all the way to Los Angeles. Kind of ironic actually - the guy who decides to occasionally dodge his responsibilities on the field is now a Dodger.

There's a saying around baseball, it's "that's Manny being Manny." He's a bit of a headcase - an incredible hitter - but a bit of a headcase nonetheless. He's not always as motivated on the field as fans would like. In some sense, I get it. 162 games (not to mention playoff games) is a lot over the course of 6 months. Physically and mentally, it has to be draining; however, he's getting paid some ridiculous amount of money to play a game. In the grand scheme of life, baseball doesn't matter. Nobody's life is going to be significantly changed because they watched the Royals and Orioles play an early September, meaningless game. Realistically, nobody's life is going to be drastically changed by a Red Sox - Yankees game in late September either. Baseball is a constant; there's always next season.

But that being said, if he wasn't a great player (and, realistically, a future Hall of Famer), and he decided to take a few games off here and there, he would be sent down to the minors in no time flat. What does this say to our youngsters? If you're really good at what you do, it doesn't matter how you act - there's not accountability for those who are at the top of their profession. This troubles me. For so many things, we just laugh it off because "it's just Manny being Manny." But I'm not so sure this sends a great message. I'm glad the Red Sox finally had enough of him and traded him away. The downside? He's not going to learn. He will work hard to try and help the Dodgers get into the playoffs (and, not to mention, get a fat free agent contract in the offseason), and after a few months, he'll get bored and start pulling the same crap all over again. The media and people around the country will laugh it off as "Manny being Manny," and the cycle will be started all over again.