Manny rally.....

I feel so strongly about Manny Ramirez that barring a catastrophic injury to more then one core player, the signing of Ramirez would result in a World Series appearance. The Mets have significantly up-graded their bullpen, they will at least have one other solid starter in the rotation and an offense that was second in the league in runs scored would be adding the best hitter of his generation.

I don't think a contract of Ramirez's size ( even at 2-3 years) is Omar's decision and it sounds like Omar would be on-board with the idea. Although Omar was believed to be given full autonomy upon taking the job, I do believe large contracts go through Jeff, rem. Jeff flew to Los Vegas for the K-Rod negotiation.

The Wilpon's seem reluctant to bring the Manny show to flushing, the Wilpon's who are known to have staffers reading the media and tend to be swayed by public opinion should know just how many fans would accept the negative side of Manny for his bat. They allowed themselves to be talked out of Vlad, I hope they don't repeat the same mistakes twice. Yes, Manny wears out his welcome and becomes a complete distraction but he is absolutely worth all the headaches he creates. Notice that he only became too much of a distraction in Boston after they won two World Series Championships on his back....

Not only is Manny a great hitter but everywhere he goes he impacts the players around him, younger hitters learn from him and already good hitters benefit from his protection. Delgado and Beltran would have incredible protection while Church and Wright could take the next step offensively under his tutelage.

Are some of you unsure that Ramirez would be worth it, well then let me run a few of his numbers past you.....

Lifetime: (15 years ) BA .315, OBP.411, SLG .593. Last year when he supposedly quit on the Red Sox's he was hitting .299 with a .529 SLG and .398 OBP. After being traded he carried the offensively sluggish Dodgers batting .396 with .743 SLg and .489 OBP. His post season cumulative numbers are BA .286, Slg. .550 and OBP .389 in 10 years of post season play.

Here's a list of his awards and accomplishments;
12x All-Star selection (1995, 1998-2008)
9x Silver Slugger Award winner (1995, 1999-2006)
2x Hank Aaron Award winner (1999, 2004)
2x World Series champion (2004, 2007)
World Series MVP Award winner (2004)
Led AL in batting average in 2002
Led AL in home runs in 2004
Led AL in runs batted in in 1999

source Wikipedia

Dan Graziano of the Star Ledger has a great article today, supporting the idea of the Mets getting Manny. I think the Wilpon's are worried about a public relation nightmare by bringing in Manny but what they may not realize is how much of a ground swell there is for him and the PR disaster might be not bringing him in especially if the offense gets off to a slow start.

A scout I talked to last week said this about Manny Ramirez: "All you hear is about all the problems the Red Sox had with Manny. Well, it looks to me like they did a lot of winning with Manny. I know a lot of teams that would have traded their problems for Boston's over the past five or six years." source Star ledger