I decided I wanted to do a little Red Sox roundtable in chat format, so I reached out to BS Memorial Stadium (Tim), Red Sox Haven (Randy), and Surviving Grady (Red). They were all happy to join in, but Red couldn’t make the chat so he submitted his answers via e-mail. I then decided to bring in Dave Isaacs, an A’s fan who had spent the summer in Boston and witnessed Abe Alvarez’s debut and then later on when Randy had to briefly leave, I brought in Fire Brand reader and Tour Reporter/Chargers Confidential writer, Joe. The final five questions (I asked nine) are below…
Part One…
Evan: David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined to be the most lethal one-two punch in baseball history – even better than Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Doubles, walks, hits, homeruns, slugging percentage.You name it, Manny and Ortiz shattered it. Can they do it again this year? How important are Manny and Papi to us?
Tim: Very. Manny’s a constant, and if he’s in some way hurt, etc, we’re in deep crap.
Tim: And yea, I think they can do it again.
Evan: Who do we need more? Ortiz or Manny?
Tim: Manny, no question.
Evan: You think? I kind of lean towards Ortiz.
Dave: who’s better? Ramirez. More important? Ortiz.
Evan: There’s a lot of righty power hitters, but what, only two super power lefties … Bonds and Ortiz.
Tim: He’s arguably the greatest right handed hitter in baseball, and the anchor to the lineup. I can’t see anyone being more important with a bat in their hands than him.
Evan: Manny can be somewhat replaced via trade, though. Can Ortiz?
Tim: True. Oh, without a doubt- power hitting DH type? A lot easier than Ramirez, I’d guess.
Evan: But a righty power DH, not a lefty.
Evan: We really have it made with a power righty and lefty. No-one else can say that.
Dave: Moises and Barry will rival that
Dave: as will Eric Chavez and Bobby Crosby!
Evan: Moises is good, but are Alou and Bonds as good as Ramirez and Ortiz? Not even close.
Tim: Well I think a lot of that is valid, and I think they compliment each other in tandem rather well. But as for importance, I think you really look at whose better, and Manny is, no doubt. But you’re right, and I don’t mean to
Tim: Diminish Ortiz’ value to us.
Dave: Bonds > Ortiz, Alou < Ramirez
Tim: Well if we’re talking Bonds of the last few years, yea, Bonds alone is akin to Ramirez AND Ortiz.
Evan: Don’t forget how clutch Ortiz has been for us.
Evan: I have to say, losing Ortiz would hurt more than Ramirez.
Evan: At least this way we could get a speedy and good fielding guy out into left.
Dave: I