When you pare any activity down, it becomes basic, eminently do-able and for that reason ridiculous. Because those persons that perform this activity with such sternness become like children making sand castles.

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe suggested that Manny Ramirez had an off year in 2003. One major reason was that his RBI total was a mere 104. He then went on to suggest that Boston/Duquette signed him expecting 165 RBI seasons a la 1999.

Bob Ryan is falling into the classic overvalue-the-RBI scenario. But even he mentions that Ramirez scored 117 runs in 2003, the most since 1999. But he praises, in a Bob Ryan sort of way, Manny's .427 OBP and 28 intentional walks. But the overall tone of the article is quite negative.

Manny is getting better and the Red Sox should keep him. The numbers of the last three bear this out:

Seas TM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2001 Bos 142 529 93 162 33 2 41 125 81 147 0 1 .306 .405 .609 1.014
2002 Bos 120 436 84 152 31 0 33 107 73 85 0 0 .349 .450 .647 1.097
2003 Bos 154 569 117 185 36 1 37 104 97 94 3 1 .325 .427 .587 1.014

His power was down from last year, but the stat I focus on is his K/BB ration. 2003 was Manny's first year of having more walks than strikeouts. He did this with only a minor sacrifice to his power. In fact his strikeouts have dropped dramatically since '01. You can count on one hand the amount of sluggers with more walks than whiffs. Barry, Rafael--this eras prolific homerun hitters. I wouldn't be ridiculously surprised if Manny put up a .480 OBP season in his mid-thirties, as more pitchers realize he has no weakness and decide to pitch around him.