Does Jonathan Papelbon know what cancer is?

Manny classes it up with the press

Because my understanding is that generally it's a bad thing.

But apparently Jonathan "Riverdance" Papelbon believes that Manny was a cancer on the Red Sox last year and that he needed to be removed.

Folks, for a moment, let's speak about what it means to be a "cancer" on a team. For me an essential element of that is sucking. For example Barry Bonds was unquestionably a poor teammate and a lousy human being.....but don't nobody call him a cancer because in his drug enhanced super form he crushed a helluva a lot pitches and made the Giants better.

The Dodgers have had a number of cancerous players over the last ten or so years. Raul Mondesi's meltdown comes to mind....remember in 1999 he started sucking. Milton Bradley in 2005 is another example, his numbers slip and suddenly everyone is talking about how out of control he is. Note that people really didn't turn on Bradley until 2005, his insane behavior was tolerated when the Dodgers were a 2004 playoff team.

So let's go over this one more time: Manny hit .377 for the Red Sox in the month of July. He led a team which hadn't won a World Series in 86 years to two World Series sweeps in 4 seasons. If that's cancer, it's gotta be one of those tumors that give you superpowers like in the awful John Travolta movie Phenomenon.

This will be the only time ever John Travolta and Manny Ramirez will be compared

As Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness noted, Papelbon also showed remarkable sensitivity in regards to his teammate Jon Lester who actually had cancer. Papelbon respects the game and his teammates so much that he carefully stored the winning ball from the 2007 World Series in a place where his bulldog destroyed it and then bragged about it to the press.

In comparison, Manny looks absolutely golden. He has "moved on" and has no comment in response to Papelbon. If Papelbon's goal is to make Manny look better, well mission accomplished. I'm sure the comments will serve the Red Sox well when they face the Dodgers exactly zero times this year.

Ultimately it begs the question to me: when are the Red Sox going to stop being so damn bitter about everything?