Manny 2nd in games played

For all the “Manny being Manny” stuff going on lately, Manny Ramirez remains second on the team among position players in games played with 96. That’s second only to Johnny Damon who has 97. DH David Ortiz leads the team with 101.

You can say what you will about the guy. He should run out ground balls. He should postpone days off when the manager asks him to play because the team’s in a pinch. He should probably hold it in rather than disappearing into the leftfield wall to use the facilities. But when Manny Ramirez plays, he hits like nobody who “plays the game the right way” does.

That doesn’t excuse the Manny moments. It means you just don’t get rid of somebody like that without getting close to dollar value as possible.