Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Over the last week or so, the word everyone used about the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez was "marriage." As in, "their marriage might soon be ending."

Don't be silly, they were never married. They never could make that commitment to each other.

Instead, they were boyfriend-girlfriend, always considering marriage, but never getting there. They constantly fought, put up with each other, and finally, they broke up.

When Manny signed with the Sox almost eight years ago, the Red Sox were fairly good looking, but not the handsome stud they are now. Manny, however, was the It Girl. Beautiful beyond belief. The Sox did everything they had to do (if you can find the ESPN show with Dan Duquette all but begging, check it out) to make Manny their girl.

Ever since, Manny has acted like he knew the Sox would never dump the hot chick. The Sox thought about breaking up a few times (the closest was probably that waiver-wire winter stunt a few years back), but could never pull the trigger.

And that's the thing. Sometimes it's clear to everyone else that you need to drop that girl, but there's something that makes you want to make it work out. In the case of Manny and the Sox, it's pretty clear what that was. No matter how clear it was to the world -- even the Sox -- that they were better off without Manny, the Sox couldn't cut the cord. The fans are the same way. We loved Manny, even though we knew he wrong for the team and for us in so many ways.

But eventually everyone gets there in their own time. In a lot of ways, it's kind of sad. What seemed so obvious for so long, what seemed like the best thing for the Sox to do, ends up being messy and depressing. The Sox finally got to the point where their desperate desire to make things work out was overwhelmed by the obvious need to move on. It's never easy, but they finally did it.

And to do it, they had to do it ugly and messy. Manny went ballistic in recent days, and the Sox (admittedly) overpaid to break up with him. Craig Hansen never quite found his way here, and Brandon Moss is a nice player. But when you give up the best righthanded hitter of a generation and $7M to pay his salary, throwing in two more ML-ready players is a heavy price to pay (Note: What the hell were the Florida Marlins looking for? From all reports, they wanted more than Manny and the money. Hansen and Moss weren't good enough? Lordy. Who the hell do they think they are?)

So, the Sox get Jason Bay in return. I almost want to describe him as a slightly better Trot Nixon, based on all reports. Sounds like a dependable 25-30 HRs, 100ish RBI, .290ish hitter who plays good defense. Sound familiar? Maybe Bay is JD Drew without the fragile history and all of Philly hating him. They also get a bit of financial maneuvering in the future. Bay has one more year on his contract, but you'd have to think the Sox will try to sign up to a longer deal. Let's say it's in the $10-$12 million range (he's at $7.5M or so right now). That leaves $8M on Manny's team option for next year. I vote for a high-quality reliever, but that's just me. The point is, the Sox have a few extra dollars to spend.

Consider the next two (hopefully three) months the Sox rebound phase. Maybe they come out of this relationship strong, make the playoffs, and even go deep into October again. Maybe they don't get it together, miss out on October, and move on next year.

That's the thing when you finally come to your senses and break off a long-term relationship. You don't know what's going to happen on the other side, and that fear that it will be worse than it is now is one of the things that keeps you hoping for the best. But then you realize that that hope is better served for the future, and the only way you get there is to put the past behind you. More often than not, that hope turns into a better future. It might not this be October, it might be next year, but even if it means a rocky few months on the rebound, the Sox are better off than they were yesterday.