Davidoff: The Manny Ramirez mess

George Steinbrenner’s passing last year prompted me to reassess, once again, who should and shouldn’t gain induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Twice, The Boss served long suspensions because of transgressions he committed — his illegal contributions to Richard Nixon (and subsequent obstruction of justice) and his paying gambler Howie Spira to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield. But Steinbrenner’s profound impact on the game, in my opinion, trumps those considerable blights.

I probably won’t determine Steinbrenner’s fate; that falls under the jurisdiction of the Veterans Committee. I will vote on Manny Ramirez, however, and when I do, I’ll likely think of The Boss.

Does Manny’s impact make up for his two violations of Major League Baseball’s illegal performance-enhancing drug rules, the latter of which caused him to suddenly, stunningly retire Friday?

I’m not sure yet. I won’t have to decide until December 2016, assuming he doesn’t come back. I do think it’ll be a tough call. Tougher than, say, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, none of whom ever failed an MLB-issued drug test and therefore deserve induction.

Ramirez is one of the best righthanded hitters of all time regardless of what he took or didn’t take. Yet his repeat offenses evoke the “integrity, sportsmanship, character” language of the Hall of Fame ballot like no one else before him. Even for a voter like me who thinks that morality is mostly for the birds.

Thanks, Jerry

Brian Cashman wasn’t incorrect, spiritually, when he accused the Mets of “abusing” Pedro Feliciano these last few years. You of course wonder why in the world Cashman signed Feliciano if he believed this, though.

What’s particularly ironic is that, had Jerry Manuel not kept leaning on Feliciano until the bitter end of the 2010 season, Feliciano probably would have wound up staying with the Mets and wouldn’t be Cashman’s problem.

With a week to go in the ’10 campaign, Feliciano, with 88 appearances on his ledger, was on track to be a Type A free agent. As such, a signing team would’ve been forced to give a high draft pick as compensation for signing Feliciano. Teams would have been reluctant to give up a draft pick for a lefty specialist, so as a Type A, Feliciano probably would’ve felt compelled to accept the Mets’ offer of salary arbitration.

Enter Manuel, who called upon Feliciano four more times in the last seven games. In those final three appearances, Feliciano allowed four earned runs in 11 / 3 innings, and that cold streak pushed Feliciano down to Type B status — no compensation from the signing team. That’s how the Yankees wound up with Feliciano.

Thinking Small

The Minnesota Twins now have a big, beautiful ballpark and an Opening Day payroll that USA Today reports as $112,737,000. They are far removed from their days as The Little Engine That Could, a candidate for contraction.

This winter, however, the Twins bid farewell to four relievers who found fortune elsewhere. Jesse Crain (White Sox) and Matt Guerrier (Dodgers) signed three-year deals, Brian Fuentes (Oakland) found a two-year contract and Jon Rauch agreed to pitch for Toronto for one year.

No matter your budget, there’s something to be said for passing on long-term commitments to middle relievers.

“We don’t want to change the way we operate,” Twins general manager Bill Smith said this past week. “We’ve operated successfully in a small market, small payroll. We don’t want to change that. “ . . . We want to keep our good players. But we can’t keep them all.”

As Smith pointed out, the Twins’ bullpen makeover isn’t as drastic as it appears on first glance. On Opening Day of 2010, Minnesota didn’t have Joe Nathan, Matt Capps or Kevin Slowey in its bullpen. Nathan now is recovered from Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss all of last year; Capps arrived last July in a trade with Washington, and Slowey has converted from the starting rotation to the bullpen, although he now is on the 15-day disabled list.

The 7th-inning stretch

Pop Quiz

In a 1960 episode of "Leave it to Beaver," Beaver plays catch with (and winds up inadvertently destroying) his dad's treasured baseball that features autographs from five players. Name the five players. (see answer below)

Three Teams Whose Offseason Plans Are Off To A Rough Start

1. Rays. So much for Manny Ramirez paying off as a low-budget designated hitter.

2. Brewers. Zack Greinke will miss more time than hoped with the cracked rib he suffered while playing basketball.

3. Red Sox. Carl Crawford will calm down and play better. Won’t he?

Three Teams Looking Like Offseason Geniuses So Far

1. Royals. The duo of Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur helped KC pick up some early victories.

2. Athletics. Not really “geniuses,” but Josh Willingham and Brandon McCarthy have paid off early.

3. Pirates. Kevin Correia won his first two starts.

Retirement of the Week: Manny Ramirez, obviously. A dishonorable end to a brilliant career.

Juggernaut of the Week: Texas has just crushed the ball. The Rangers’ lineup has put up cartoonishly large numbers.

Quote of the Week: “One thing that I got to say to you guys, I'm apologizing. I didn't talk to you guys last night. The reason I do it is because I got mad because CC was supposed to win and it didn't happen. And that's why I get mad." Rafael Soriano, explaining why he didn’t speak to the media after his poor performance Tuesday night.

Pop Quiz Answer: Kiki Cuyler, Augie Galan, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove and Babe Ruth. Thanks to Bob Buscavage of Moriches for the suggestion.