To Manny or Not To Manny

From Ken Rosenthal's latest:

It was, to a degree; Manny mostly acts like a big kid who wouldn't hurt anyone. Still, McCormick is 64, and when you come right down to it, there is little difference between Ramirez's behavior and Shawn Chacon's — except that Chacon is a journeyman while Ramirez is a future Hall of Famer.

To this point, I've thought it was a lock that the Red Sox would exercise Ramirez's $20 million option for next season, but now I'm not so sure. Manny's production no longer is otherworldly. The free-agent market would offer no clear-cut solution, but at worst the Sox could go with Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew in the outfield and David Ortiz at DH. Or, they could try to trade for a replacement such as the Rockies' Matt Holliday.

The Sox have proven they can function without Ortiz, at least short-term. As long as they still had Ortiz, they could survive without Manny, too.

Discuss.