Why did Hanley Ramirez apologize to his manager and teammates yesterday? Partially, I bet, to get back in the lineup, and partially, I hope, because he realized he was being a jerk. But according to a tweet from Peter Gammons last night, a lot of it may have had to do with Big Papi:
Given that Ortiz was quoted yesterday as being critical of the way Fredi Gonzalez was handling the whole affair -- a take with which I agreed -- this was a nice stroke of pragmatism from the big guy.
Of course, if Gammons was right and Ortiz’s texts -- and not his manager’s statements -- were the prime motivator, we shouldn’t hold our breaths for a new Hanley Ramirez to emerge from this experience. Ramirez’s takeway from this was probably more about how to go along to get along, not about playing hard and respecting authority figures.
UPDATE: I had missed this, but apparently a stern talking-to by Andre Dawson and Tony Perez helped matters as well.