All off season we speak of needing a right handed bat with power to put in the corner outfield, and now as we near Spring Training we still dont have one. The #1 free agent this offseason fits our needs and then some.

I think the fact that we are not signing Manny Ramirez shows the lack of commitment this organization really has to winning. Over and over we have failed to put a respectable team on the field, and with Manny I believe we could win the division or wild card this year, opening the chance for more.

Now I have seen the graphs and such about where our win projections would be with Manny, and how many more runs a game we would score, and I think that is nice, but I think Manny is such a dynamic player that the stats underestimate what he could do for this team.

Think About this line-up....

1. Taveras

2. Votto

3. Ramirez

4. Bruce

5. Encarnacion

6. B-Phil

7. Gonzalez

8. Hernandez

9. Pitcher

This went from being a line-up with little hope of scoring runs, to what looks like a powerhouse....with Manny in between, you could give the young Votto and Bruce confidence early in their careers, maximazing their talent quickly. Youre not just paying for Manny (who is a badass) but the money put towards him makes every player around him more valuable, and it makes the team better, and thus fills the seats.

I know people dont like Willy T.....but when he does get on base he is fast enough to get a pitcher to worry about him and make a mistake at the plate. Votto can spray the field with line-drives...A single could score Willy from first many times....apart from mistake pitches, Manny would be behind Votto, the pitcher is going to go after Joey rather than give Manny a chance.....Votto could have an explosive year. I think Ede and Bruce are interchangeable in the order, both capable of having big years....the rest of the order can put the ball out of the park until the pitcher...christ you have 20 HR potential at the 7 and 8 spots, and 30+ potential in 2-6.

I think there is a well balanced team with the potential to have a good defense. obviously Manny doesnt help it, but fielding balls off the Green Monster probably didnt help his career defensive statistics much. Taveras is fast enough to play half of Manny`s position anyway. Put Bruce behind Ede in LF to back him up then Manny is RF if it is that big of a concern.

I dont think Manny has shown any decline in his ability to play the game, and I think if you signed him to 3 or 4 years you could get a "bargain" for Manny (compared to what others offer) It would show your fans that you actually want to win, and don`t want to just talk about it. I think he could put up some of his best numbers in GABP, His numbers would diminish, that is for sure.

I have heard "win this year" or "win next year" or "win in a couple years" too often, its just excuses. Too often I laugh at the Pirates as an organization, only to realize we havent really done much better.

The last time I can honestly say I believed we would be good was right after we signed Griffey, and I can`t say I honestly have ever since. We won`t this year, there is a big dropoff after Manny when it comes to filling our "need" and "priority" for a RH power bat OF. Cough up the god damn money, there is no salary cap in baseball, and the teams that win are the teams that pay. The Yankees arent a dynasty because God likes them, its because they pay money. Look at the Red Sox, god-damn them....they sign top free agents every year, even though the Mick-Rats have a better team that most of the MLB at the end of every season.

The Cubs will win the division this year because they bought their team, the Brewers bought C.C. and it did wonder, the Cardinals have PoopHoles, and with less talent than us, they out-do us every year....this is the ultimate team sport but it is also the ultimate individual sport.....1 man can make a team go from suck-champions..Walt knows what 1 bat can do for a team....so do it.

We should sign Manny, and I think there is more good than bad that could come from it. our young hitters would have gotten to learn from Griffey and Manny, two of the sweetest hitters to grace the game. If our young outfielders were developed enough down the line, we could trade him after 1 or even 2 years for more prospects to dump money.

I think this offense with our rotation is a damn good team.....this is the first year we have relative locks 1-4 in the rotation instead of 1 lock or 1-2 locked up....and we have enough young prospects to make the #5 starter a damn good one.

I think our bench is underrated as well, this team all of the sudden has depth with Hopper, Dickerson, Hairston, Keppinger, and Hanigan...we will see what Richar and Castillo can do....I`m not sure what it will be.

I just won`t accept the fact that he is too expensive, its just a real puss way to play the GM game or the owner game for that matter....its a cop-out, instead of trading for someone, we would lose nothing, but possibly gain everything....I think Manny would make this franchise a lot of money, just think about jersey sales alone. This is how you build a fu**ing dynasty, you dont just wait to get a Colorado Rockies type team that is lucky enough to get to the World Series.....I think that is and has been our approach to this game as an organization for years, try to see what you can do with the minimum effort and money....I`m sick of it. Seriously, suck it front office, I know you well enough, if we did get to the World Series you would just dump all our good players for prospects and start this painful cycle of Redness all over again. Suck. It.

There are a ton of Reds fan in Cinci, throughout Ohio, and the country, if you gave them a team worth spending 3 hours, 1/3 of the year watching then you would get your money back. But for the most part people realize the franchise is phoney B.S. and we dont have the balls to get someone of Manny`s calibur. If you build it.........