Quick Hits: Manny Being Manny and MLB Stuffage

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The Reason for Manny’s absence – A Car Show? Ugh, Manny Being Manny:

You have to read this:

“Manny Ramirez who received permission from the Red Sox to report late to training camp for family reasons, was scheduled to attend a car auction in Atlantic City on Saturday, according to the promoter of the auction…Earlier Wednesday, General manager Theo Epstein said Ramirez has an excused absence and will report on March 1 for the second straight spring training. On Monday, pitcher Juilan Tavarez, Ramirez's close friend, said Ramirez's mother recently had surgery and Ramirez was with her in Florida.”

“But later Wednesday, Ramirez's plans to appear at the car show surfaced in a report posted on The Boston Globe's Web site. It said Ramirez's mother's condition may prevent him from attending -- and it wasn't known when the appearance was initially scheduled…But Louise Cunningham, who works for G. Potter King, the Berlin, N.J., car dealer promoting the auction, told The Associated Press that Ramirez still plans to attend…All we know, he's coming at noon on Saturday, nothing else," she said.”

Well, you have to hand it to the Red Sox – if this was anyone else on that sans David Ortiz or one of their big stars, they’d be released.

I know everything is relative in society, but if you’re making, um, a shade under $20 million per year, I think you should up to work like everyone else.

I don’t know - it’s just my thinking.

Uribe in Camp: Juan Uribe, White Sox shortstop, has received permission from a judge to attend spring training in Tucson, Ariz. Under the judge's ruling, Uribe will no longer have to appear in court twice a month for the remainder of the case. Instead, he must put down a $15,400 deposit guaranteeing he will make his next scheduled court appearance, slated for March 17.

Chad Cordero Wins His Arbitration Case: Washington closer Chad Cordero was given a huge raise after winning his arbitration case on Wednesday. His salary will go from $525,000 in which he got in 2006 to $4.15 million in 2007. The Nationals had offered him a $3.65 million salary for last season’s 29-save performance, 7-4 record and 3.19 ERA.

The year before, he led the majors with 47 saves, a franchise record. Cordero is a career 17-11 with a 2.61 ERA and 91 saves in 106 opportunities since his 2003 debut with the Montreal Expos.

If you’re keeping score, the owners are the winners with a 4-3 edge this year in arbitration. However, after winning the first 4 cases, they have lost the last 3.

Mitchell Case Heading to Warmer Climates: From CNNsi.com – “Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell is sending his investigators to spring training as part of his investigation into steroids use in baseball…Mitchell told baseball owners last month that his work has gone more slowly than expected and threatened to seek congressional help if he doesn't get better cooperation in his probe, which started nearly a year ago.”

Hello? You won’t get anything without a subpoena.