Assessing the Hanley Ramirez situation

By now, I assume that most of you have heard about the Hanley Ramirez-Fredi Gonzalez dispute. For those that haven't, Hanley Ramirez reportedly did not hustle to a ground ball hit to his left. Instead, he lazily let the ball pass him. Following this, Fredi Gonzalez (the Florida Marlins manager) pulled his star shortstop from the game for his lackluster play. Ramirez shot back at the move saying that "he was hurt" after fouling a ball off of his ankle in a previous at bat. Gonzalez replied that he didn't believe Ramirez was hurt and that he was just lazy. In response Ramirez said "it's his team. He can do whatever . . . He doesn't understand that. He never played in the big leagues." Other players on the Marlins agree with Gonzalez's decision and that it sends a message. From All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla: "I think Skip needed to do what he needed to do, which was take Hanley out of the game at that time. Does that mean we love Hanley any less? No, we have all made mistakes. We've all done things like, 'Oh, maybe I shouldn't have done that.' But you move on, you move forward you get past it."

But Hanley won't move past it.

--snip--

Whoa, whoa, whoa. That crosses the line there. Why would you ever go and insult the manager? He's the one who trusts you to lead and allows you to play. Ramirez is a punk

--back--

Gonzalez again answered Hanley's latest comment saying that Ramirez needs to "apologize to me, and his teammates." To this, Ramirez said "We got a lot of people dogging it after ground balls, they don't apologize." He said that he would not apologize. Gonzalez, finally fed up, said that Ramirez would be benched until he apologized to himself and the team. The result: Ramirez was benched yesterday and probably won't play tonight. Gonzalez said today, when asked if Hanley apologized: "Not yet . . . I could care less about mine, if he apologizes to me or not, but I think he needs to address his teammates a little bit. When that happens, we are good to go."

I think this whole dispute sends a message: Hanley Ramirez is a punk. I don't care who you are, if you're as good as Hanley Ramirez or as good as Ramiro Pena, you don't insult the manager and then refuse to apologize. I agree with Fredi Gonzalez 100% on his decision. Ramirez should not play until he apologizes to everyone.

On Ramirez's "injury", if he was truly "injured" then why did he stay in the game? Usually if a guy is injured, or if the medical staff thinks he is injured, you pull the player from the game. Not the case here. I don't think Hanley was hurt, I believe that he is just lazy. He's the face of the Marlins franchise and needs to act like it. He can't keep hurting his team by sitting on the bench and not playing to help out the team. Time for Hanley to grow up and apologize. What he said to Fredi Gonzalez was unneccesary, insulting, and rude. In order for Hanley to gain his teammates' and manager's respect back, he better mature and apologize. The Marlins are a good but not great organization, and they NEED Hanley Ramirez.

Update 11:55 PM: There you have it folks. Turns out Hanley apologized prior to the start of the game and was allowed to play. Good for him. He also proved my point about the Marlins needing him. Ramirez led the Marlins to a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, and went 3-5. Hopefully he can help the Marlins get back on track.