Read: How Manny moved to LA
In a recent report for SI.com, Jon Heyman takes a closer look at how Manny Ramirez ended up being traded to the Dodgers.
Regarding the Mets and GM Omar Minaya, Heyman writes:
“Sources say that the Mets didn’t want to risk bringing Ramirez and all his baggage into their clubhouse. But strangely, after the Mets had stood pat at the deadline, Minaya suggested on a conference call that the reason they couldn’t make a deal for Ramirez was that Boston had requested a big-league outfielder back. That claim must have come from Minaya’s very vivid imagination and appears to have been an attempt to cover for the Mets or possibly refrain from exposing their true feelings about a Ramirez trade. In reality the Red Sox had called the Mets and were told no, and that was the end of that.”
…Boston did want a big-league outfielder back, and got one in bay…also, why would the Mets have investigated a three-way deal to get manny, when, if such a deal was even possible for minaya, he likely would have wanted bay for himself…
…also, yes, i am willing to bet minaya is mostly keeping his current feeling about ramirez quiet, out of respect for the player and out of fear of the player’s union, which is probably the more prudent thing to do…
