Really? What exactly was wrong with what Tim McCarver said?
From what i read, he simply said that Manny's behavior was despicable. Namely, Manny refusing to play and leveraging this demand into a trade. Whether you agree or disagree with Man-Ram's motives, you have to admit that this is a strong-arm tactic and highly unusual. If Manny wasn't such a commodity, he would've been DFA'd on the spot. So the BoSox figured they'd trade him and get some value out of him instead of paying him to ride pine.
Calling McCarver names is kind of juvenile and you didn't even attempt to back it up with rational thought. What's wrong with TMEditorializing on Manny's behavior? What exactly makes him "a complete and utter douchebag"???

Pete-

What is wrong with me editorializing on Tim McCarver's behavior? I simply did the same thing as he did to Manny and you have a problem with that?

The fact that he is saying that Manny was faking an injury to not play is pretty bold. Calling him despicable, his acts despicable, saying he held the team hostage, wore out his welcome, wasn't trying, etc. is not his place to say. If he was asked about Manny's performance, he should answer the question about his performance. That isn't the place for him to go into a personal attack on him. Manny's performance in LA would not lead a rational person to believe he was dogging it in Boston. He faced new pitchers that had never seen him before and he is one of the best hitters in the game, so he had a great two months with the Dodgers. Manny had 11 DNPs this season. In 162 games, he played in 151. That really doesn't indicate to me that someone is holding out on his team. Nine of those DNPs came with Boston and only once did he miss consecutive days, which were right before he was traded.

McCarver is announcing the NLCS and he wants to put the focus on himself, like he does several times during the broadcasts and this is another example of him doing so.

Also, what is wrong with Manny demanding a trade? How many athletes these days do that? They sit out, hold out, don't show up, don't call....it happens every year in every sport. This is no different and not "highly unusual" as you put it.

Ever hear "Mad Dog Unleashed" on satellite radio? Not everyone is a fan of sports talk, but I drink in as much as I can. McCarver was on there this afternoon pounding everything home a little more about Manny and the NLCS. I can't find any audio to link to, but I wanted to comment in order to 2nd the despise for McCarver on AIO. He is a blatant self-promoter and I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone in baseball say that "Tim McCarver is my baseball hero and I idolize his play over 4 decades in baseball." I would much rather listen to Merrill Reese and Vin Scully's voices during the NLCS. I think Reese is just the Iggles announcer, but he is great radio guy and a voice of Philly...coupled with the legendary sound of Scully I think baseball fans would be salivating during commercials for the next bit of commentary to come their way.

I don't mind Joe Buck, but after he said that he doesn't really pay attention to baseball unless he is doing the game, I don't really want to listen to him now. I'd rather have someone who is passionate about the game instead of a good speaker who is getting spoon fed the stats all game.

I've always wondered why they wouldn't do a combination of announcers (one from each team) during the playoffs. The home team announcer would do the play-by-play and the away announcer would be the color guy and it would flip-flop when the teams changed venues.