Manny Ramirez, A Left Field Liability

Without question, Manny Ramirez is one of the best batters in baseball.  He has had nine consecutive seasons with at least 25 home runs and 100 runs batted in, a streak that was broken last season.  Having missed 29 games in 2007, he batted .296 with 89 RBI and 20 dingers.  Still, this was his worst season since he was with the Indians in '94.

Many may perceive this as a different form of Manny being Manny, a 36-year old man.  It is not ridiculous to think that he is on a downward slope at this point in his career.  We baseball fans see the man put up monster numbers year after year.  When he fails to produce the same statistics, it is easy to say that he is not as valuable as he once was.

After all, he is a lifetime .313 batter with 9 Silver Slugger awards and 10 All-Star appearances.  He ranks 20th in career home runs with 516 and 23rd in RBI with 1693.  This is all fine and dandy, but he brings more than numbers to the boys in blue.

Manny Ramirez is an incredible student of batting and his swing can be described as near perfect.  As a veteran and future Hall-of-Famer, many look up to him and try to emulate him.  The young guns in the Dodgers line-up like Russel Martin, Matt Kemp, James Loney and Andre Ethier are no exception.

Since Manny joined the team at the beginning of August, the Dodgers are batting .290 as a team.  This ranks them 6th in the MLB in that time span and is the best month they have had this year.  I'm not saying that Manny is the greatest teacher in the world, but the situation forces him into such a position. 

All other Dodgers are noticeably better hitters, especially fellow out fielder Andre Ethier.  He got his second walk-off hit of the home stand on Sunday, a 2-run homer to close out the series with the Brewers.  Martin and Kemp have been making much better contact and the rest of the line-up is rock solid.  They even let Jonathan Broxton go to the plate last Friday.  He walked after a full count and remains hit-less.

Batting aside, the defensive issue remains.  Manny's efforts on the field are clearly lackluster.  Letting potential run-saving third outs drop in front is not up to par with Dodgers out fielding standards.  

There's no green monster here that spits back long fly balls.  Chavez Ravine is notorious for being brutal on opposing hitters and much of it can be attributed to its enormous outfield.  Hitting one out at Dodger Stadium is no remedial task.  A significant number of potential home-runs become fly balls, many being hit to left field and its guardian, Manny Ramirez.

His transition from the smallest left field in all of baseball to one of the largest has been slow at best.  It is also safe to say, Manny isn't in the best physical shape of his career.  Not is his performance in left field irritating, he's sluggish around the bases.

The Dodgers picked up Manny for what he can do at the plate, but I don't think they expected the out fielding to take such a hit.  His boost to the underachieving offense is noticeable and greatly appreciated, but his outfield reaction and speed must greatly improve.  If only there was a way to have Manny bat and Andruw Jones take the field, who is batting .30 below the Mendoza Line.

Fortunately, the Dodgers have Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre and Andre Ethier.  Kemp and Ethier each have 15 homers and Pierre has 37 steals.  Not to mention that these guys are just spectacular in the out field.  They are starting to swing better, likely as a result of learning from Manny.  Let's just hope they don't learn to lallygag out on the field.

Manny has said that he wants to finish out his career in Dodger Blue, but sadly the decision is not his.  Great out fielding is what the Dodgers have always had and will always need to remain competitive.  His bat makes up for his glove in many ways, but nothing can excuse a lack of effort.  If he wants to stay in in L.A., he had better step it up.

We Los Angeles fans don't hope to win it all, we expect it.  We don't reward great achievements, rather failure is punished.  Take us into October, Manny.  Then just maybe a contract will be waiting for you.