Papelbon Blasts Manny

[love_that_reefer]

Jonathan Papelbon is apparently still unhappy with Manny Ramirez.

Papelbon reportedly calls Ramirez a "cancer" in the April issue of Esquire. The Boston Herald and MLB.com reported the Boston Red Sox closer's comments on Thursday.

"It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening," Papelbon reportedly told the magazine. "Once we saw that, we weren't afraid to get rid of him. It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It [stunk], but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us."

The Red Sox dealt Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers at last season's trade deadline after a messy divorce, in which the Red Sox felt Ramirez, who had a pair of $20 million team options slated for 2009 and 2010, was trying to play his way out of town so he and his agent, Scott Boras, could test free agency during the offseason. Ramirez eventualy signed a two-year, $45 million offer with the Dodgers -- the only team known to have offered him a deal.

"He was on a different train!" Paplebon reportedly said of Ramirez in Esquire. "And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him. That comes from the manager, and it comes from guys like Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield and David Ortiz. Nobody is ever going to be allowed to do that."

"So Manny was tough for us," Papelbon reportedly added. "You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ball game, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man!"

Bravo Papelbon!! Mike and Mike on ESPN radio were trying to say this breaks the clubhouse code but that's juts a bunch of horseshit. We all saw what kind of cancer Manny was last year and Theo Epstein already admitted the players wanted him out so this isn't really news. It's just great to hear someone come out and call Manny out on him quitting on the team last year, a team that was one game away from another World Series without Manny. Papelbon talking smack and I like it!

[cjkalt]

Paps didn't say it until Manny had a new deal which is polite enough, he was a total jerk most of the time and as sad as it was to see him go I can't wait to watch Jason Bay play this year for us instead

[rockin500]

i agree with mike and mike. You dont break the code. Paps should take follow the advice that many give Curt Schilling: Shut up and pitch.

[love_that_reefer]

Manny broke a bigger code by quitting on his team! Of course he's going to get blasted for that and should be!

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Code is horseshit. There's no code. As l long as he's not on your team anymore, go ahead and say whatever you want. I'd like to know what goes on in the clubhouse of my favorite team. Props to Paps for speaking his mind. This world needs more of that.

[love_that_reefer]

Yeah people complained that no one spoke up about the steroid issue but now a guy speaks out about someone we know was a cancer and its not cool? Doesn't make sense.

[missionhockey21]

I am conflicted about this. I do think that some respect needs to be given to a guy who was an integral part of a very very good team and frankly has a lot more baseball accolades than a guy like Papelbon. Not that he doesn't have permission to do so (or isn't a great player himself), it's just a bit shocking to see a young guy come out against a player who had etched himself in Red Sox history.

That said, for Papelbon to speak up and break the code, I think it probably indicates that the Manny situation was probably even worse than we knew it to be. We hear the headlines and "inside" reports but we aren't playing, training and living with 24 other guys for over half a year. I think it's clear that Papelbon waited to say anything as to not damage him any further in negotiating a contract and that's respectable. Ultimately, I think it was fine for him to speak up. It sure would be interesting to hear some detailed accounts from the '08 Red Sox years from now when it would be all ok to reveal the nitty gritty about that clubhouse situation.

[GiantsFanatic]

Manny broke a bigger code by quitting on his team! Of course he's going to get blasted for that and should be!

I saw a ground ball that David Ortiz hit last year on Sunday Night Baseball, after the Ramirez trade and he wasn't hustling, he was lolly gaging his ass to 1st base, but I didn't hear anyone in the media say that Ortiz wasn't giving 100% effort, no one say he quit on his team.

And I would have more respect for Papelbon and Schilling if they had the balls to call out Ramirez when he was with the Red Sox, you don't pull this chicken shit crap after the guy has left, be a ****ing real man and say when he's there on your team, retards.

[cjkalt]

Manny broke the code by quitting on his team, he gave any red Sox player the right to say whatever they want by his inaction, refusing to play etc.

[GiantsFanatic]

Manny has been doing this shit for years now, the Red Sox organization allowed him to be "Manny being Manny" crap, blame your team for not setting any kind of discipline to begin with. And Ortiz didn't quit on his team by not hustling to first base?

[cjkalt]

you are talking about 1 groundball throughout the season, Ortiz never refused to play...not running hard and refusing to take the field are 2 totally seperate areas

[love_that_reefer]

Ortiz played with a bad wrist plus he isn't that fast top begin with.

[GiantsFanatic]

you are talking about 1 groundball throughout the season, Ortiz never refused to play...not running hard and refusing to take the field are 2 totally seperate areas

And your talking about refusing to play couple of games in one season. Avg player doesn't play in all 162 games last time I checked.

[love_that_reefer]

Refusing to play against the Yankees and faking injuries.

[GiantsFanatic]

And Yankees won the division.