Manny to report late...and he actually has a valid reason this time!

[browntown653]

Red Sox position players are scheduled to report to spring training on Tuesday. However, Boston's most peculiar superstar likely won't be with his teammates until March 1.

Julian Tavarez told MLB.com and WBZ-TV in Boston on Sunday that his good friend Manny Ramirez would miss the start of the Red Sox's spring training because his mother recently had surgery for an undisclosed condition.

"He's been going through a tough time because of his mom; they told her that she had a tumor and it wasn't a tumor, but she had surgery between her ribs and she's home right now recovering and Manny's out there with his mom," Tavarez told MLB.com.

Tavarez told MLB.com that both Ramirez and his mother are both currently in Weston, Fla.

Boston's manager, Terry Francona, said this was news to him, according to The Boston Globe.

Francona said the last he heard, Ramirez was planning to report to camp on time and that the slugger was in terrific shape and in good spirits, the newspaper reported.

The Red Sox's first full-squad workout is scheduled for Thursday. March 1 is the mandatory reporting date for Red Sox position players.

Best of luck to him and his mother.

[Weston M]

Hope everything works out with his mother. The continuing drama of Man-Ram.

weston