New Info Comes Out on the Manny Saga in Boston

ESPN is reporting that the Red Sox sent a letter to Manny, MLB, and Scott Boras in July saying that Ramirez would be suspended if he did not play in the next game. Manny quickly called team execs and said he would play.

According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd.

The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.

Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.

Why is this information just coming out now? Are some members of Red Sox management trying to hurt Manny's free agent value? This could certainly give some teams some pause before throwing crazy money at Ramirez but even with the new information about the suspension threat by the Red Sox, Manny can still hit and teams will need good hitters.

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Coco's Suspension Reduced

MLB reduced Coco Crisp's 7 game suspension by 2 games. Coco was happy with the new but Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays was not. From the Boston Herald:

“First of all, the fact that after the appeal that we made the other day that Aki’s suspension was not reduced, I’m kind of baffled by it,” Maddon told Tampa Bay reporters prior to tonight’s game in Pittsburgh. “I don’t agree with it at all. I thought it should have been reduced. I thought it was way too severe, because of the fact that we were reacting to a situation. And then furthermore, the guy that pretty much created the entire moment gets his reduced by two [games]. Honestly, none of that makes any sense to me whatsoever. There’s no way for me to take all the information that I’ve heard over the last couple of days and indicate that I’m in agreement. Regardless that I’m a Ray or not, I would think that an independent person would also agree that how this has all come down, you would say that I disagree with this.”

Coco will play tonight and miss the remainder of the Houston series and the Tampa series. This could lighten up the tension between the two teams but Papelbon may get things heated back up if he has his say.

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Coco, Lester and Casey Get Suspensions

MLB suspended Coco Crisp for 7 games, Jon Lester for 5 games, and Sean Casey for 3 games after yesterday's altercation with the Rays. It is ridiculous for Lester to get 5 games from hitting a batter with a slider. I'm sure the suspension will be appealed.

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