But seriously, the man put up a line of .322/.433/.580/1.012 in 223 games with the Dodgers, playing injured in many of those contests, especially down the stretch in 2009. That line is good enough for a 171 OPS+. He had 99 extra-base hits in his LA stint, and put up a WAR of 7.8 (3.6 alone over the final 53 games in 2008), an outstanding number, especially considering how poor he is defensively and how much time he's missed the past two seasons.
Overall, the Manny Ramirez Era in Los Angeles is an unquestioned success, an A grade from me for the future Hall Of Famer.
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I'm surprised to see this. I thought I was the only non-bandwagon Dodger fan in the world that still liked Manny Ramirez, and knew his statistical contribution to the team. Obviously he was a defensive liability, but when he was locked in at the plate, the offense was just outstanding.
ReplyDeleteThe man produced on the field, that's all I and anybody else can really ask for. Was I disappointed that he took whatever and got suspended? Sure, but it wasn't personal, I was just disappointed because it meant 50 games of Juan Pierre.
ReplyDeletePlenty of players have done shady things, there are Hall Of Famers who have admitted to cheating. In the end all that really matters is do you produce when healthy. And he did.
And our personal feelings of players shouldn't cloud our judgment of their on-field performance, but clearly that happens far too often. Like you, I do like Manny now, and I liked him before he was a Dodger and will continue to like him and root for him.
It's just a shame that so many mainstream media members are trying to paint his Dodger career as a failure.