Cubs’ Manny Ramirez admits to bad behavior

News was made on Tuesday when Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein signed former Major League star Manny Ramirez to a minor-league contract as a player-coach for the Iowa Cubs.

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The news was not only headline-worthy because Manny Ramirez is trying again to make a comeback in baseball, but because it’s under the direction of Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein, two officials with whom Manny did not have that great of a relationship with. With a string of troubles following him almost everywhere he went, Jed and Theo, while they were with Boston, looked to have Manny traded or outrighted or anything that could result in him being taken off of the team. The old phrase “Manny being Manny” had grown tiresome as his antics and immaturity became a distraction to the Red Sox after the 2004 season.

Manny, however, concedes that he wasn’t the best back in those days. Joon Lee of WEEI spoke with the 41-year old Ramirez, who has been going to church on a regular basis since 2010.

"“I behaved bad with the organization, with my teammates, but now I realize that and I’ve got move on,” Ramirez reflected. “I cannot be looking in the past. The Bible says that when you come to Christ, you are a new man. He takes your sins and he throws it in the sea and that he is going to clean you, like it’s snow. I don’t worry about what happened in the past.”"

The past includes a battery charge in 2011, at which point, Ramirez saw the light and has been attempting to reform his image ever since. Last season, he signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers in his first attempt to get back into the game. He played half a season with the Round Rock Express before he was released.

It is not expected that Ramirez will reach the big leagues this season, but instead will serve as a mentor to the multitude of young prospects that the Cubs have acquired and cultivated. Most notably, Javier Baez could learn a great deal, not only about being a clubhouse kind of guy, but also about hitting – something that Manny knows just a little bit about. Over the course of his 19-year career, Manny was a 12-time All-Star and 9-time Silver Slugger with a .312/.411/.585 slash line and more than 2,500 hits.