Boston Red Sox all-star outfielder Manny Ramirez did everything he could the past week or so to force the Red Sox to trade him, which they did today to the Los Angeles Dodgers. His actions included:

• Sitting out of two games when he was healthy enough to play
• Not running out several ground balls in a recent loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Seeming to strike out intentionally by not swinging on three straight pitches in a recent game against the New York Yankees
• Basically being a disruption to his team by talking about how he wanted to be traded to the media, holding up signs in the dugout focusing on his situation and in general being a bad teammate

Ramirez is one of the game's best hitters, and he played a key role in the Red Sox winning two World Series since 2004. The Red Sox put up with his antics, which included past demands to be traded and many other incidents, because of his offensive skills, but could not put up with his act any longer.

The bottom line is that Ramirez is anything but a role model for young baseball players. He is really only interested in himself, and he doesn't care what his teammates, the fans or others think as long as he gets what he wants.

Ramirez refers to his disruptive actions as "Manny being Manny." I think that for the Red Sox, this is a case of addition by subtraction, and that they will be better off in the long run without Ramirez.