Posted by Teddy Panos

A busy sports day around these parts continues with news that Manny Ramirez will return to the Red Sox lineup for the first time since August 28th.

Manny will play left field (Jacoby Ellsbury is on the bench) and bat second, which I'm guessing is a move designed to get him an extra at bat before he's removed from the game. Ordinarily, players rehab in the minors and don't play a full game the first time back from injury, but since the Sox don't have any active minor league clubs to send him to, he'll rehab at Fenway.

Now, I don't mind the fact he's not going to play the entire game...no sense in getting him re-injured. However, this batting second thing is really silly. At most, he'd only play one more inning in the field if they didn't bat around to him the second or third time up (whenever he's going to be removed), and he very well could be removed in the same inning anyway. Shouldn't the most important thing be to win games right now?

I know there's a fine line between going all out to win the division and giving weary players enough rest heading into a playoffs they've already qualified for. But shouldn't winning the division and getting home field be the top priority as long as the possibility exists?

As for the idiot brigade accusing Manny of quitting on his teammates, please note that Ramirez returned in less than a month from an injury that typically takes 4-6 weeks to heal from without facing significant risk of re-injury. Depending on the severity, some return quicker, others take longer. Mike Timlin missed about 6-weeks with a similar injury earlier this year.

Update: In a senile moment, I completely forgot to mention the main reason why I posted this in the first place; The Red Sox were 12-12 in Manny's absence. Don't ever let anyone tell they're better off without him!