Other Crap

Manny Ramirez of Los Angeles Dodgers has been placed on waivers

The White Sox are interested. That seems like a logical fit. They are falling back in their struggle with the Twins in which the loser, with no shot at the wild card slot, will watch the playoffs on TV. The Chisox are in the AL, so they can play Manny at DH, and that presents no real conflict with their current line-up.

On the other hand, the waiver rules require all NL teams to pass before Manny can be claimed by an AL team. Will any of the contenders be willing to vacate an outfield slot for the slow slugger? That seems unlikely. Without a job in the grass, Manny would only become a very expensive pinch hitter in the senior circuit, so the AL seems more likely.

By the way, the injured slugger was 0-for-July and 0-for-August. His last hit was on June 29th! (Game log.) On the other hand, he's Manny. This is the guy who finished fourth in the 2008 NL MVP balloting, despite playing in only 53 games. This is the guy with the 9th highest OPS of any player in history, as of today. (1. Babe Ruth 2. Ted Williams 3. Lou Gehrig 4. Albert Pujols 5. Barry Bonds 6. Jimmie Foxx 7. Hank Greenberg 8. Rogers Hornsby 9. Manny Ramirez.)

Yeah, that's right. Manny is ahead of Mays, Mantle, Musial, Aaron, DiMaggio, Cobb and every other superstar who's not on that list above. And he's still formidable when healthy. Before his trip to the DL, he closed June by going 23-for-51. There are just not many players capable of hitting .450 over a long stretch like that, so every contender has to wonder if he's healthy enough to do something like that in a September stretch run plus the post-season.