Mannyitis

So all three baseball stories in the Boston Globe are 'Where's Manny'
So all three baseball stories in the Boston Herald are 'Where's Manny'

So what's new?

1)Manny Ramirez may have agreed to arrive at spring training next week but he is still pining for an escape to the West Coast, according to ex-teammate Orlando Cabrera.
Cabrera told the Orange County Register yesterday that Ramirez said in several offseason telephone conversations that he still wants to join him with the Angels.

2)FORT MYERS — Manny Ramirez’ teammates generally agreed that he’s receiving preferential treatment for being allowed to report to spring training six days after the Red Sox’ first full-squad workout. However, they said they don’t care as long as he continues to produce on the field.

3) Ramirez, who was due to check in with the rest of the Red Sox position players in Fort Myers today, reached an agreement with the team yesterday that will allow him to remain away until March 1, apparently training on his own at his Miami-area home until making the trek across the state on Alligator Alley.

4)FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Manny Ramírez, who through an agent in October threatened to boycott spring training if he were not traded, will not arrive at spring training today, the team's reporting date for position players. Instead, according to a joint statement issued yesterday by player and team, the slugger will join the Sox March 1 ''prepared to have an exceptional season."

5) Manny Ramírez, as we all know well, has frequently exercised the right to change his mind. So nothing, obviously, is etched in stone this morning.

But if he has indeed elected to withdraw from playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, that will make for an unhappy Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball and a primary proponent of the new international event.

While word of this possibility was making the rounds of the Red Sox clubhouse yesterday, in the aftermath of the club's announcement that Ramírez would be reporting here March 1, top baseball officials said yesterday afternoon that they had not been notified by Ramírez or his agent, Greg Genske. That included Gene Orza and Rob Manfred, lawyers for the union and the commissioner's office, respectively, and Manny Acta, the manager of the Dominican team, who as recently as Monday was showing reporters a prospective starting lineup that included the Sox left fielder.

6)All is normal with the Boston Red Sox. Manny Ramírez is going to be late getting to spring training.

This is why we love the Sox. A spring training without a Sox star showing up late would be like a Thanksgiving without the Detroit Lions on television. It would be like no swallows returning to Capistrano.

We need Pedro and the midget for this scene to be complete