Dodger owner Frank McCourt is apparently livid with Manny Ramirez for testing positive for a banned substance.
The two met and talked over the weekend and by all reports McCourt wants Manny to apologize to him, Joe Torre, the entire front office, his teammates, and go in front of the media and grovel. Maybe he should appear on Oprah while we’re at it. Or McCourt can just go Captain Bligh and have Manny flogged.
McCourt feels betrayed by his $45 million slugger, but this is on McCourt as well. He should have known something like this was coming. Manny is a power hitter whose numbers did not drop off through his mid-30s — that never happened until the steroid era. Manny wears a baggy uniform so most people don’t know, but he is ripped and anyone who saw him in the locker room should have wondered.
Or maybe he should have wondered why no other team got in on the bidding for Manny this summer, why the Dodgers had an open field in which to play hardball. It was in part because a lot of other GMs feared this would happen.
McCourt is now frustrated and making Manny jump through hoops is probably cathartic for him. But it’s not a great long-term strategy. If he wants to keep the Dodger fans — his paying customer base — happy, McCourt should take a page from Torre’s book.
Torre has been low key on this whole thing, almost as laid back as Manny normally is. He’s giving the embarrassed slugger space to get over it. He said he didn’t think Manny needed to formally apologize to the team, just hang around and show his remorse, he didn’t call him out on the carpet. He expressed disappointment but not anger.
Because Torre gets it. In the second half of the season — and in October — the Dodgers are going to need Manny. They need his bat in the lineup to win in the postseason, and they need his head screwed on right. They need him happy.
U.S. & World
The fans have pretty much already forgiven Manny because they want to win, and they need Manny to do it (plus they just love him). McCourt needs to do the same.
