Did I Say Car Auction? I Meant "Family Issue"

Whoops, scratch that. Manny Ramirez isn't going to make that appearance at the New Jersey car auction after all. It seems that he does in fact have family issues which are causing him to report to Red Sox training camp after March 1.

The Red Sox gave Ramirez permission to report late to camp on March 1, the day after their first exhibition game, for family reasons. The left fielder's mother recently had surgery.

Boston general manager Theo Epstein said that after learning about Ramirez's scheduled appearance at the auction, he spoke Wednesday night with Greg Genske, the slugger's agent.

"He said [Ramirez] is not going to be there, so it's fine," Epstein said Thursday. "He's dealing with a family issue. We're not going to document his exact whereabouts on an hour-to-hour basis."

"Manny certainly intends to be here as soon as he can and get ready for the season. So I think it's not the biggest deal in the world, provided he's here March 1, or even earlier if his mother's situation resolves itself," [Epstein] said.

Ramirez, a classic car collector, is still scheduled to sell his 1967 four-door Lincoln Continental Sedan convertible in Saturday's auction. Perhaps he's selling the car just to pay for his mom's surgery? Yeah, that's it. A simple misunderstanding.