By Alex Woodward
We are now one week away from Manny Machado's return to Oriole Park for the first time since being traded to the Dodgers last season. Next Tuesday, will also be our second 1057 The Fan night at Camden Yards as the Big Bad Morning Show will be in the stands watching the Padres take on the Orioles. Jerry Coleman has made it well known to the public that he will be booing Manny Machado when he comes back to Baltimore but I'm not so sure that's really the appropriate thing to do.
Jerry Coleman is known as the "curmudgeon" on the Big Bad Morning Show so it's no surprise to me that he wants to lead the army of boo's for Manny. Bob Haynie from the Vinny & Haynie once said that, "Coleman would boo sunshine" so I would hope not many Oriole fans have the same stance on Manny as Coleman but it seems like the two sides are pretty split.
Yes, it looked bad when he would loaf it down the first base line on a ground ball or when he would hit a ball to the wall and would only make it to first base because he thought it was going out of the yard. At the end of the day though, I will take all of that again for the level of play he gave us at third base for six and a half seasons. I would rather have the guy that can make impossible plays on defense look easy and logs 150+ games a season than a guy that gives 1000% every play but has a fraction of the talent and might not be able to play an entire season. That's the trade off with superstars in sports.
That quote got taken way out of context back then and it is still being taken out of context. He was referring to the Orioles front office failing to extend a contract offer while he was here. I don't think the Orioles ever had it in the budget to extend him after the Chris Davis deal but they could have at least offered something out of respect and hopes that he would stay. Remember, Manny was also referring to the previous Orioles regime; not the one that is overseeing the current rebuild. I can't speak to how much he did for the state of Maryland but he was a key piece for a team that made the playoffs 3 times in a 5 year span where they had the best record in the American League. If I was him, I would also be pissed off that I didn't get an offer for what I'm worth.
The way I see it, Manny was one of the key pieces to the Orioles success from 2012-2016. He was what fans hoped to be the next face of the franchise. He was the best defender since Brooks Robinson. He was by far the highest selling Oriole jersey while he was here. Even with all that said, it was an ugly break up. There is blame on both sides but Manny's comments about not showing love and his absence from FanFest were business decisions - not direct shots at the fanbase.