Hanley Ramirez tiff is good news for Red Sox fans

ESPN's Buster Olney brings us up to speed on the Hanley Ramirez/Fredi Gonzalez tiff in Florida:

The Marlins have a crisis on their hands, writes Joe Capozzi, with a showdown between Hanley Ramirez and manager Fredi Gonzalez. The manager has indicated that Ramirez needs to apologize to his teammates before getting back on the field, writes Harvey Fialkov.

Ramirez's suggestion that he couldn't pursue the ball the other night is ridiculous; he flat-out dogged it. He was dead wrong, and Gonzalez was dead-on in his handling of this situation Monday and Tuesday -- he immediately pulled Ramirez out of the game Monday, and on Tuesday, he made it clear that he thinks that Ramirez needs to apologize to his teammates and kept him out of the lineup.

But this is where Gonzalez should try to end this.

He has made his point. He should do what he can Wednesday to move on, to get past this. What he should not do is insist that Ramirez must apologize to his teammates in order to get back on the field.

Ramirez is clearly in the wrong here. Fortunately for him, spoiled brats in MLB almost always get their way.

As Olney also points out, teams around the league (including the Red Sox I assume) are hoping the situation becomes bad enough where the Marlins are forced to trade their franchise player.

Ramirez has demonstrated beyond any doubt that he is not going to change. He has had multiple run-ins with teammates and shown disdain for those around him, and given that he's playing with a fully guaranteed contract, Gonzalez really lacks the leverage he needs to alter Ramirez's behavior. If the manager escalates this confrontation, odds are that he'll be in his next job before Ramirez ever fully capitulates.

But from that description, would you want a guy like Hanley Ramirez on your team? He makes Manny look like Trot Nixon.

My answer is... Hell yes!