By: Matt
This week the Tampa Bay Rays signed both Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon to fill the remaining holes in an offense left gutted by an off-season intended to reduce team payroll by a significant amount. The signing of this pair of players bring back memories of the duo working together to end the Curse of the Bambino and capture a World Series Championship for the Boston Red Sox. That was nearly 7 years ago and times have changed. Now Ramirez has the long hair instead of Damon, none of them looks like a caveman, both are slower, older, and less defensively capable (although as Damon pointed out in their shared press conference, Manny's removal from Left Field also means the end of his time as Damon's cutoff man). 7 years ago this signing would have been as earth shattering as their former team's addition of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez was this year. Now Rays fans are left hoping that the two former teammates will be able to capture some lost magic and help a decimated Ray's squad achieve an improbable repeat as AL East Champs. It's hard to see this scenario as likely, but then again, how wise is it to bet against the reunited duo of Johnny and Manny?
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