Manny......Gone

I am sure everyone already has heard that Manny will miss the next 50 games for using PEDs. In my opinion, except for Manny himself, Either and Hudson are the biggest losers and Kemp will be the biggest winner from this suspension. Below is an excerpt from a previous post about the arrival of Manny and the impact on Either's performance.

Andre Ethier was having a pretty average year before Manny came on board as he hit .271 with 7 HR in the first half and then exploded after Manny protected him in the LAD line-up. Manny came over to LA on July 31 and lets examine his numbers on a monthly basis:

Pre Manny
April- Avg: .329 HR: 7 SLG: .482
May- Avg: .292 HR: 2 SLG: .416
June- Avg: .195 HR: 3 SLG: .390
July- Avg: .281HR: 4 SLG: .490

With Manny
August- Avg: .292 HR: 7 SLG: .615
September- Avg: .462 HR: 2 SLG: .692

To sum it up, after Manny arrived in LA Either hit .367 with 9 HRs with a SLG % of .643 and an impressive OPS of 1.08. Ethier is 26 and will be entering his prime hitting age in 2009 and I think a breakout season is in store for Either.

Kemp for some odd reason is batting 6th/7th and he will obviously move higher in the line-up which will give him more RBI opportunities. I would not be selling Eitherduring these 50 games especially in a keeper league but if he does slip up I would be actively trying to aquire him close to July when Manny returns.

Random Rant:
I can't stand the fact that everytime a closer gets shit-blasted in an outing they always say they are hurt. Matt Capps is the lastest closer who got shelled and then sprinted to a MRI machine. Capps will be fine for this upcoming weekend series but I compare these guys to young kids who screw up and act hurt to deflect the attention to the fact they were caught stealing to lose the damn game.