David Ortiz thinks Manny Ramirez will be good for Cubs, ‘It’s a different guy’
In one of those weird full-circle situations, Chicago Cubs GM Theo Epstein hired his former Boston Red Sox quitter Manny Ramirez as a Triple-A coach. And Ramirez’s former teammate in Boston, David Ortiz, thinks it’s a great idea, according to a story in the Boston Globe.
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“It’s a different guy. He’s been doing different things for the past couple of years,” Ortiz said after an 8-6 victory against the Braves. “I’ve been talking to him a lot on the phone and sometimes I get confused because I don’t know if I’m talking to him or not. This is legit.”
Ortiz has been pounding the ball in the middle of the Boston lineup for years, and was on the team in 2008 when Ramirez essentially quit on the Red Sox, and then followed that up with a couple of suspensions for PED use.
“I really like the fact that he’s doing things. He should have been doing those things for a long time, especially being the person he was. But you know we’re human. Everybody’s different,” Ortiz said. “I’m glad he’s looking out for his kids and family and trying to get things better.”
Time will only tell if Ramirez has truly changed, or if he’ll slip back into Manny-being-Manny mode while in his coaching stint with the Cubbies. The smart money may be on a change if Ortiz is this convinced.