Or he just says, "he was a good hitter for me and I think he can help coach these players to be better hitters." The rest of it IS unnecessary pandering. People would be (rightly) flipping out if it was Sosa instead of Manny.
Tell us more how Theo is just cleverly pandering instead of simply being a condescending prick. "Manny, trust me, I think you're cool, I just have to publicly say these insulting things about you because of reasons." And again: lifelong Red Sox fan.
So what? so he's not gonna give the big pinch hit AB in the playoffs to the guy who just found out his wife is banging half the team I want the furious guy who wants to hit things to go out there and something as hard as he can. It's called playing the percentages; it's what good managers do.
#bespekkled will now be used to describe Addison Russell. http://www.quickmeme.com/img/30/300337393cac832c1a6f7ca0d089c54b167b373260fbc7369a4c15dc5711a6f1.jpg