Hanley Ramirez 2010: Starting All-Star SS

[Valid]

Uggla without a doubt goes 100% on every play; so does Bake. Paulino, as slow he is, even busts his ass on infield grounders. So Gaby did it on opening day. Okay; once in a while, it happens, but Hanley does it ALL the time.

Let's remember that this is the same Hanley Ramirez that came into spring training wearing a shirt that said "Trade me!" because the front office asked him to cut his hair. This has gone on long enough. It's about time Fredi put his foot down. Ramirez has gotten away with A LOT.

I understand the argument that Fredi should have dealt with Hanley last year when these antics began surfacing, but he decided to keep it behind closed doors as much as possible to protect his player (i.e. the incident in Toronto last season when Hanley knocked Fredi AND Johnson for not retaliating when he get hit by a pitch). Ramirez has been coddled enough.

[Ramp]

See, Gaby could have been having a bad day. He's been much better since. And it's not like he didnt run after balls when they got by him. It's not like he didn't apologize to teammates in the dugouts for committing those errors (I'm not positive he did, but I'll choose to give the rookie the benefit of the doubt that he was not happy with his fielding on opening day).

As for Hermida, I think he was in the Cliff Floyd mold where it looked like he was moving in slow motion but that's just about as fast as he could go. And he's a long stride runner, so they don't look like they're moving that fast but they are (or for him, above average).

But even so, I have never seen any Marlin literally jog after a ball after they kicked it with runners on base. It's never happened before and this should be a totally separate case. I love Hanley but he needs to get his head out of his ass. What he did yesterday was very wrong and if he needs to see the bench for 2-3-4 days until he learns it, so be it.

[MiamiHomer]

I'm on my phone so I can't type everything I want to say but given the situation with runners on Hanley needs to fucking run after that ball. The fact that the runners score magnifies the situation. Rollins was bench last year or 2 for not running out a pop fly after it was actually dropped and Reyes 2 years ago was benched for not even running to first on a ground ball. Hanley is just as accountable for his actions like everyone else. The major issue here is he did it coating the team 2 runs. Sure the big picture is that people don't go all out every play but it's rarely seen when the guy flat out just allowed the other team to score runs on his lack of effort.

[Fritz]

Stars get the star treatment. I'm annoyed they're benching Hanley, but he needs to make some BS apology and get back on the field.

[Ramp]

Sportscenter reaction coming up

FWIW

[Swifty]

They gonna mention we got him from Boston and they need a short-stop.
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Then Olney/Kurkjan whoever says Fredi is respected as a player's guy so if this comes up it's got to be bad.

Then they gonna mention Boston again.

[Ramp]

Going through the media sesh from this morning on SC
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Boston was never mentioned!

[Swifty]

I know!

[Flum]

As a bit of an aside... It's no secret that Loria has been dogging Fredi for the team's "underperformance" since last season. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if someone from the FO "suggested" that Fredi enforce a bit more discipline or he "might" lose his job. Even there wasn't an explicit instruction, though, I still put some (i.e. not all) of the blame for this situation at Loria's feet. When you create an environment of unreasonable expectations, don't be surprised when people start acting unreasonably.

[wanks1212]

Fredi has reacted pretty decently to Hanley's rant this morning:

Hanley Ramirez reacted Tuesday to being pulled from Monday night's game by manager Fredi Gonzalez in the loudest possible way. And the worst. And as he's benched again starting with Tuesday's game until he addresses the team properly, Gonzalez said.

So the Marlins have a five-alarm diva fire that doesn't get doused until Ramirez does what's right and fesses up about not playing hard. This story can end at Tuesday's pregame if Ramirez talks with the team, as you'd hope. Or it can linger like a foul smell for a while.

Let's get right to the nuggets of what Hanley said about Gonzalez :

"It's his team. He can do whatever he f------ wants."

"We've got a lot of people dogging it. They never pull guys."

"We've got 24 more guys out there. Hopefully, they can do the same thing I can."

Ramirez said he couldn't run after a ball on a shin hit by a fouled ball Monday night. Gonzalez wasn't buying that. Nor should he. Earlier, Ramirez had sprinted down the first-base line until he saw his groundout would be a double play. At that point, he started limping.

He merely jogged after the ball he booted into left field.

"When something's wrong, it's wrong,'' Gonzalez said.

When initially asked Tuesday about Gonzalez's benching him, Hanley answered: "Who?"

Fredi, he was told.

"Who's that?"

Your manager.

"Oh, yeah..." he said.

Ramirez wore a bandage on the shin a few hours before Tuesday's 1 p.m. game, said it hurt and he was angry at Gonzalez for being pulled from the game.

"He doesn't understand that, he never played in the big leagues,'' Ramirez said.

Said Gonzalez: "He's right. But I know how to play the game. I played six years in the minor leagues. I know what it takes to play and how you go about it."

This was the first time Gonzalez has had a public spat with a player, and he couldn't be handling this one any better.

If he doesn't pull Ramirez Monday, he loses the respect of the other players who have had issues with Ramirez for a while. Wes Helms had to be held back from him once when Ramirez showed up late to stretching. Dan Uggla was upset last season when Ramirez took himself out of a game. Even Hall of Famer Andre Dawson said Hanley had to decide what kind of a player he wanted to be.

At the same time, Gonzalez didn't inflame the situation. He went to Ramirez's locker Tuesday morning, didn't react to his star's childish comments but told him he needed to address the team about how he played Monday.

Hanley, remember, is one of the best players in baseball. The Marlins need him to win. And that can't be overlooked.

"I think he's got to take care of some problems - let me retract that, take care of some issues,'' Gonzalez said. "When he handles this the right way, he'll be fine."

"Let's wait and see what happens. Let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill."

He laughed and joked with the media, at one point when he talked about the Marlins stopping himself and saying, "I mean, my eff-ing team."

He said what anyone in the middle of a crisis knows to be true: "If it's handled the right way, it can be a good thing."

It can get issues out in the open, let people have their say and move on. So this can be a day that either sinks or helps a season. We'll see.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/spor...ed_marlin.html
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Also, benching Hanley and handling the situation this way takes some huge balls. Kudos to Fredi for that. Most guys whose jobs are on the line wouldn't discipline their best player like this, especially when that player is adored by the owner.

[Sashimi]

Hanley shows once again that he is still quite immature. Disappointing.

[MiamiHomer]

Buster Olney talking on sportscenter about some teams wondering if this could open up the change of Hanley being traded...too much right there lol.

[Ramp]

Why couldn’t Hanley Ramirez be more like Jimmy Rollins?
by: Ethan J. Skolnick May 18th, 2010 | 2:17 PM

In 2008, Jimmy Rollins didn’t run out a short pop fly.

After the pop fly was muffed, and Rollins had to scramble to get to first, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel benched him.

xxxxxx

Here’s what Rollins said after the benching:

“He has two rules — be on time and hustle; and I broke one of them today,” Rollins said. “I know better. Sometimes the manager gets you. I just have to go out there and make sure I don’t do it again. It’s something you learn from.”

Here’s more of the story:

The two met after the game — a reason for Manuel’s delay in speaking to reporters — though the skipper declined to elaborate and abruptly ended the postgame news conference.

Rollins received the message clearly and said he’s not mad for the way it was sent.

“It’s my fault,” Rollins said. “That’s like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up.”

Shortly after being removed from the game, Rollins returned to the bench and cheered for his teammates.

“We’re a team,” Rollins said. “I’m not going to be a distraction that way. I did what I did, OK, but I still have to pull for my team. It’s not their fault. They shouldn’t have to worry about that becoming a distraction.”

xxxxx

That’s how a leader handles a situation.

But Ramirez is not that. We’ve known that for a while. He’s an elite talent, but he’s not a face of a franchise, and he’s not someone others should follow. And he showed that again today. And he’s put his manager in an impossible position. I’ll say this for Fredi Gonzalez — I haven’t been his biggest fan (I’m sort of lukewarm toward his work), but he earned more respect with his handling of this situation than with anything else he’s done as Marlins manager.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports...y-rollins.html

[MiamiHomer]

Figured it wouldn't be long for that comparison to come out and I'm glad it was mention because Rollins did exactly what a professional would do.

[kylekash]

Although I do think Hanley should do someting similar to what Rollins did, and apologize to his team mates or whatever... I also think it's an unfair comparison. Rollins is on a team full of superstars... Howard, Utley, etc. Hanley has kind of been built up to be the entire team for the last couple of years. Should it make a difference? No. But I think it does play into Hanley's psychology a bit.