Manny may be the answer the Bravos are looking for!

Rueters Photo

If rumor comes to fruition, Manny Ramirez may be put on waivers by the Dodgers in the coming days. As a Bravos fan, what do you do? Interesting debate going on over on Jeff Schultz's blog on the AJC. Check it out for yourself, but some very interesting points are brought to light, namely, Ramirez is hitting .317 with a .516 slugging percentage in 186 at bats this season. Compliment that with 554 career home runs and two World Series rings. Yes, he's been hurt, but there is no denying a glaring hole in the Brave's line up now that Chipper is out and Glaus has been anemic since the All Star game. Can the Brave's pass up on a line up that would consist of

1. Infante (2B)
2. Prado (3B)
3. Heyward (RF)
4. M. Ramirez (LF)
5. McCann (C)
6. Glaus/Hinske (1B)
7. Gonzalez (SS)
8. Cabrera/Ankiel (CF)
9. Pitcher

All that and the deepest bench in baseball? You'd still have Diaz, Conrad, Ross and Hinske/Ankiel/Cabrera depending on who started at any given time.

Manny has lived in Manny-Land for a long time, but was Deion Sanders much worse? It's not like Bobby hasn't dealt with a head case before and it's not like Manny was always this way. He was quite harmonious with the BoSox back in the day so it's not out of the question for him to actually play baseball. I'm sure a 3rd ring is a mutual interest and 10 out of 10 baseball players say they would love to play for Cox.

What better way to send Cox out than pushing all your chips in and picking up the best hitter available? It's not like the Braves haven't done anything ridiculous before when they thought they were in the pennant race. Remember the Mark Texeira deal a couple of years ago? The Braves entire farm system for a half year of Tex who the Braves swore would be likely to stay.

The price to pick up Manny would be approximately $5 million for the remainder of the season, much of which could be picked up due to the insurance policies on Chipper and being able to have the remainder of this year's salary being paid by that insurance. What is the true cost to the Braves? If Freeman isn't ready to be called up, they HAVE to get a bat.

AP Photo

I know the guy has been dubbed a cancer, but with the mutual interests of winning it all, having a manager who has proven he can lead almost anyone, Bobby's final season, a stellar pitching staff, and a legitimate run at the World Series at stake, my vote is for Manny. Let's face it, this guy could honestly get off a plane, show up at the game, not stretch, not even warm up with the ball boy in left, put on a helmet and batting gloves, and absolutely rake. He's not much more of a liability defensively than Diaz and he's going to hit both lefties and righties like it's his job (news flash, that is his job). Head case or not, I'll take the rest of the season with Manny and a final push for the play offs. He could more than make up for the lack of Chipper and be the answer to Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, and any other slugger the Braves face down the stretch. I'm jumping on the Manny train now! Who's coming with me?

Check out Jeff Schultz's blog on the AJC website here.

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