Most sports fans by now have heard about Jonathan Papelbon's idiotic comments concerning Manny Ramirez. And to be sure, a good writer like Buster Olney, who should know better, but can't get past his Manny obsession, used the quotes as justification of his obsession. Are Papelbon's comments justification or just immature?
A commenter to Olney's post said it best when he mentioned that Papelbon is getting a case of Schillingitis. Great line and right on point. Remember, this is the same pitcher who was upset with his own manager because Francona had enough respect for the game to insist that Mariano Rivera would be his closer for the last All Star game in Yankee Stadium. The guy has some serious gowing up to do.
Do you imagine that his Red Sox teammates are happy with the closer for flapping his lips? Don't imagine they are happy at all. Isn't it the same writers who were so upset at Joe Torre's supposed violation of the clubhouse that are now applauding what Papelbon said? If there was a problem with Ramirez in the Red Sox clubhouse, that would be up to the manager and the leaders among the players to deal with and it would be dealt with in house. Obviously, it did not work for a variety of reasons we will never really understand and the Red Sox traded the guy.
There are always two sides to a messy divorce. Was Ramirez a saint in all this? Probably not. Did he have good reason to feel unappreciated? Probably. Were the Yankees and Bay Rays really happy not to have to face Ramirez when they played the Sox? You betcha.
In either case, it's a done deal. It's time for all parties to move on. Those same Red Sox clubhouse leaders that seemingly couldn't deal with Ramirez, should try to deal with Papelbon and just tell him to shut up. It's easy to toss stones when the target is a continent away. If Papelbon had any stones to begin with, these comments would have been made during the situation and not a half year later.
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