About a week ago, Jeff Conine, a former major leaguer known locally as Mr. Marlin and current special assistant to Marlins president David Samson, had some harsh words for shortstop Hanley Ramirez on Dan LeBatard’s radio show. Conine said that he would consider trading Ramirez if he had the chance and that he doesn’t always try as hard as he should on a nightly basis. The latter is a sentiment not by any means unique to Mr. Conine.
When I read about this radio interview a few days ago, I thought that this might be a good opportunity for Hanley to prove his worth. Nothing will shut up a questioning front office guy like a 5 homer week or couple of 4 hit games. Instead, Hanley took the low road, the Chad Johnson (I refuse to call him Chad Eighfive or whatever stupid name he wants to go with, why are we so accepting of his stupidity? He’s not even that good) road, if you will. On Wednesday, Hanley went with the typical “if he has something to say, say it to my face” approach. The perfect response to make him sound like a childish, spoiled brat. Why do guys think that the antagonistic, “he’s nothing compared to me, he’s to afraid to confront me” statement makes them sound good? Does Ramirez really think that Conine went on LeBatard’s show specifically with the intention of calling him out? Conine was just honestly answering a question on the radio. Ramirez overreacted.
I think that this incident more than Ramirez’s periodic lack of hustle shows that Hanley is in fact a knucklehead. Clearly his career numbers are off the charts (before this season) and he’s an incredibly talented player but I doubt how much longer he’ll be playing in Florida. I think we’ll see Hanley hit his professional peak when he’s not the most talented guy in his own clubhouse. I think when someone he’s forced to listen to because of personality and on-field talent is there to reign him in rather than his 80 year old manager or Logan Morrison, Hanley will finally get his act together. Obviously not this year but I say trade him to St. Louis, let Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols deal with him. The Marlins are in a tough spot in their division, Atlanta and Philly are clearly better, Washington is improving quickly and the Mets are comparable to Florida. A divisional crown is not in the offing. Trade Ramirez this winter or ( more realistically because of the new stadium) next summer, get some good prospects for him and move on, he’s nothing but trouble and a knucklehead.
-Max Frankel
