Manuel Sticks Foot Into Mouth on Manny Talk

Jerry Manuel did the Mets front office no favors when he went on SNY's Daily News Live program on Monday, and stated that he would love to have troubled slugger Manny Ramirez on the Mets in 2009.

"I don't have a problem with people that produce in the form and fashion that Manny Ramirez produces," Manuel said on SNY. "We shouldn't spend that much time in the locker room anyway.

"Our job is to be on the field, and Manny Ramirez has proven that he is probably one of the best right-handed hitters of our generation. To have a shot at managing him would be exciting for me. I've had Albert Belle, Frank Thomas, tremendous right-handed hitters. I would love to have the opportunity to watch Manny hit every day."

This amounts to a disturbing quote from the Mets manager, considering that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon stated during the weekend that the Mets and GM Omar Minaya have no interest in acquiring the complex Ramirez.

Granted Ramirez is a great talent, but what is scaring teams away from him is the fact that he dogged it during his final season with the Boston Red Sox, telling every media person in town about how unhappy he was with the team, and he did not put any effort into helping his team win games. Ramirez was finally traded to the L.A. Dodgers on July 31 and did a great job in leading that team to the postseason. Still, people are afraid that performance was Manny playing for a bigger contract and not Manny playing because he loved the game.

The Mets should stay away from Ramirez; they have enough clowns on the ball club in the form of Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and Billy Wagner. If the Mets are to improve at all in 2009, they need to get players who want to win, not players who just want to goof off and cash their paychecks.

So far, only the Dodgers have shown interest in to sign Ramirez. They have extended a two year $45 million contract, but that was rejected. The San Francisco Giants are also believed to be interested in Ramirez.