Manny Ramirez was the talk of the town if you were a Tampa Bay Rays fan. Getting veterans of Johnny Damon and Manny Ramierez was supposed to be what helped made up for losing Crawford and all the other players who left this off season. After getting caught with taking performance enhancing drugs for the second time, Manny has decided to retire instead of face the consequences and have a 100 game suspension.
When this first happened all I could think of was what a joke... Way to come and completely mess up the team. How are we going to be able to replace your bat and we just wasted our off season on nothing. After taking a step back and realizing that so far no one on the Rays could hit anyways and this was not a big deal I was able to see that in the end this is not the worst thing that could have happened to the Rays.
We do not know what Manny would have brought to the team offensively. If he hit the way he could during the season then there is no chance that the Rays can replace his bat. There is not another bat in the organization that has the talent or power that Manny had. The bats might not improve without Manny, but where the team improves drastically is in the defensive department. After the move the Rays brought up Casey Kotchman who is one of the best defensive first baseman in the game. His bat is pretty weak, but his ability with his glove is top notch. Dan Johnson was playing first before and he is a terrible first basemen. We were giving up outs by not finishing plays because Dan was unable to make the scoop or come up with a ball. With Kotchman moving up to the big leagues, this allows Dan to DH and get himself as far away from defense as possible. This defensive upgrade could make the difference and help us give less runs and with our offense every run given up is huge.
The offense should still be very similar with or without Manny. As his bat will not be able to be replaced, if you compare this team to last years team the bats can end up being as effective. BJ Upton is starting to swing well and make contact with power. This is the best he has looked in years and with his labrum finally healed and his bat going this could be the turn around season he and the Rays needed. Damon's performance can only go up after getting more at bats and tonight he already started being productive. Dan being able to focus on offense and not worry about defense should help his bat improve and bring him back to the patient walk master who hits timely home runs.
Overall Manny leaving is not a bad thing for the Rays. It adds a much needed change that the Rays needed now to help spark the team. It eliminates any distractions that could have happened with Manny later on in the season. I also think it takes off some of the pressure that the Rays were facing with Manny being on the team and having to perform a certain way. Only time will tell what will happen, but I think this has a way to be a positive outcome for the Rays.
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