Since April he has, in no particular order, shoved a 64-year-old Red Sox employee to the ground, called owner John Henry a liar, said he would approve a trade to Iraq, and slap-boxed with a teammate in the dugout. Players have been run out of the majors for less.
Given all this, that the Red Sox would need to fetch an equally dominant hitter in a trade, and his contract — he has the right to veto a trade and is owed the balance of his $20 million salary for the rest of the year — it's nearly impossible to imagine Ramirez going anywhere by Thursday's trade deadline. That's a shame; what's quickly becoming a truly classic pennant race in the American League East shouldn't hinge on the whims of such an embarrassing figure.
If Ramirez has been the victim of the most unfortunately timed injuries in baseball history, he's had a rotten deal; but if he's done what it certainly looks as if he's done, he's an outright fraud. And if Manny being Manny really amounts to Manny all but throwing a pennant out of petulance, he's a far better candidate for a blackballing than anyone who was, however misguidedly, at least trying to help his team win. Whatever the case, any team with postseason aspirations should stay far away from the whole scene. Who, after all, knows when the man's knees might start to act up?