'Despicable': McCarver rips Manny's behavior

[Wassit3]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8644878?MSNHPHMA

[haveacigar]

go **** yourself tim mccarver. God I hate that guy.

[HoustonGM]

McCarver is a terrible announcer who repeatedly states falsehoods as if they were true.

Here's a nice little piece from Joe Sheehan at BP about this nonsense.

[KowboyKoop]

While there are certianly things Manny did that were wrong....McCarver is clearly a gigantic idiot and it's just a joke that he has a job in baseball.

[haveacigar]

great find HGM.

As far as Manny goes (now that we've determined McCarver is just a piece of crap), this year doesn't seem a whole lot different than the previous years of "Manny being Manny." And Boston was definitely alright with Manny being Manny when he got them 2 WS titles in 5 years.

Honestly, I think there was a bit of scapegoating going on by the Boston front office to help deflect the fact that the team was losing the division to the lowly Rays.

[metsguy234]

Agreed... Manny purposely performed poorly to get traded... that's pretty despicable... only thinking about himself and not the team

[HoustonGM]

Agreed... Manny purposely performed poorly to get traded... that's pretty despicable... only thinking about himself and not the team

Read the article I linked to above.

Manny DID NOT play poorly. That is PURE fiction. There is no universe in which hitting .347/.473/.587 (Manny's July stats) is poor play.

[Pavelb1]

great find HGM.

As far as Manny goes (now that we've determined McCarver is just a piece of crap), this year doesn't seem a whole lot different than the previous years of "Manny being Manny." And Boston was definitely alright with Manny being Manny when he got them 2 WS titles in 5 years.

Honestly, I think there was a bit of scapegoating going on by the Boston front office to help deflect the fact that the team was losing the division to the lowly Rays.

This is the last time (im just ranting, not singling you out Lastcigar :>) that I want to hear this nonsense about 'Manny got Boston 2 WS titles'.

Boston has proven this year, they are quite capable of getting to the playoffs without Manny....and as far as playoff heroes go, they would be ranked:

Schilling
Beckett
Ortiz
Foulke
Lowe
Manny
Roberts

In no way did Manny 'get Boston 2 titles'. And as far 'Mr. 2 errors in a row in game 1's 2004 MVP trophy' goes...they had to give it to someone. Just like 2007's went to Lowell. It just as easily could have gone to Pedroia or Ellsbury and had it gone to a game five certainly would have gone to Beckett if he won.

[Alloutwar]

That is a good article - almost FJM-like. Good post. I don't think you can find the Manny problems in the numbers - whether making nice on a new team, or having a childish fit on his old one, he was an amazing hitter no matter what. And he didn't miss much time - compared to people with actual injuries. His was questionable, that's all.

Aside from all the mentioned 'intangibles' and 'clubhouse presence' and the negativity that made rooting for Manny hard, there was the speaking out against his front office - saying they were jerking him around for not deciding on his option until the end of the year. That came out of nowhere, and that really showed the poor class and despicable behavior.

There are different levels of Manny-ness:
1) bad play in the outfield, making phone calls in LF, avoiding media, using the Wall bathroom - 'manny being manny'
2) sitting out important games when the injury was questionable (or he was later seen frolicking with buddies on the other team); moseying to 1B on ground balls; pushing mid-50's team employees in the clubhouse; fights with teammates on the bench - problem player, negative presence
3) Calling out the ownership in the media for not doing x, y, z regarding your contract in the middle of a season, when your team is busy playing baseball; choosing personal contract issues over the team, the pennant race; being the whiniest guy on the team when your paycheck is among the fattest ever: bordering on despicable

Manny made it tough to root for the Red Sox, and a lot of fans are glad he is gone. McCarver's points about running the bases were groundless, and just an echo of emotions around the league. Disproving his stupid, uninformed remark (a typical McCarver-ism) does not make Manny any better.

[HoustonGM]

I don't disagree with any of that, nor do I think that Boston should've kept Manny. Everything you said is perfectly true.

It's just flat-out wrong to say, though, that Manny played poorly in order to force a trade, or that he sat out and refused to play.

[kenny1234]

3) Calling out the ownership in the media for not doing x, y, z regarding your contract in the middle of a season, when your team is busy playing baseball; choosing personal contract issues over the team, the pennant race; being the whiniest guy on the team when your paycheck is among the fattest ever: bordering on despicable

If you actually believe that he skipped games when he could have played - do you honestly think that whining to the media about your contract is worse than that? If you believe that he didn't perform at his best on the field - fine, that is bad. But otherwise - who cares what he says to the media?

Manny made it tough to root for the Red Sox, and a lot of fans are glad he is gone.

For me, and I'm not a Red Sox fan, Manny was the player on the Red Sox that I thought was the most fun to watch just because you never knew what he was going to do.

[Alloutwar]

I can understand that. If I was watching a Giants game in '07, I'd be waiting for Bonds to come up. I didn't like him, but it's definitely an interesting at-bat to any baseball fan.

If I were a Giants fan, I might not be thrilled he was on my team; but interesting players are, well, interesting.

My sister loved watching Manny, with the wild hair, lackadaisical attitude, goofball antics. It made baseball watchable for her.

My girlfriend hated Manny and couldn't wait for them to get rid of him. She is more serious-minded and less apt to put up with crap from people.

[haveacigar]

This is the last time (im just ranting, not singling you out Lastcigar :>) that I want to hear this nonsense about 'Manny got Boston 2 WS titles'.

Boston has proven this year, they are quite capable of getting to the playoffs without Manny....and as far as playoff heroes go, they would be ranked:

Schilling
Beckett
Ortiz
Foulke
Lowe
Manny
Roberts

In no way did Manny 'get Boston 2 titles'. And as far 'Mr. 2 errors in a row in game 1's 2004 MVP trophy' goes...they had to give it to someone. Just like 2007's went to Lowell. It just as easily could have gone to Pedroia or Ellsbury and had it gone to a game five certainly would have gone to Beckett if he won.

Obviously he's not the only part of the team. Replace "he got them" with "they won" in my post, and I still think it holds true.

But I think you're being unfair to Manny by putting him below Lowe and Foulke (who weren't even there in 07). 40 playoff hits between 04, 05, and 07. That's some serious playoff production. Of course, it looks like Jason Bay is up to the task, so it's really a win-win situation for everyone involved. Except lying ***** Tim McCarver

[gRYFYN1]

there was an intersting article written by Bill Simmons, while I know there's alot of hate toward him, its a very interseting perspective from the Boston fan :


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=manny

So while yes some of what Mccarver said has some truth to it, hes been doing pretty much the same thing for 8 years ...

[BINGLEBOP]

Manny DID NOT play poorly. That is PURE fiction. There is no universe in which hitting .347/.473/.587 (Manny's July stats) is poor play.

Yep, great point. I think too many Boston fans (or Manny haters) are forgetting about (or choose to ignore) that stat right there.