The Red Sox have released Jeremy Hermida, who had been playing for AAA Pawtucket.

You may remember Hermida as a young, talented outfielder for the Florida Marlins who never quite fulfilled expectations for one reason or another. He is now a 26-year-old outfielder who has been deemed an eternal enigma by Boston and cut loose.

Should the Mets take a flyer on him?

He was an elite prospect at one time, breaking into the bigs as a 21-year-old. He enjoyed a breakout season at age 23 in 2007, hitting .296 with a .383 OBP and .870 OPS, swatting 18 HR in 429 ABs. But he took steps backward the next two years, and was traded to the Red Sox last November for two suspects.

Clearly, Hermida is at a crossroads in his career; at this point he will either become another Mike Jacobs or the next Raul Ibanez.

With Jeff Francoeur on his way to Texas and Angel Pagan out with a sore wrist, would it hurt to pick up Hermida and give him a look in one of the corners for the last few weeks of the season? I know Mets fans would rather see Lucas Duda get ABs, but there is room for both to get looks — particularly if the Mets shut down Carlos Beltran, which should be considered if he continues to resemble Willie Mays circa 1973 in centerfield.

Hermida is a big kid with big talent, who still is young enough to turn it around, and will cost nothing. What do the Mets have to lose?

You may have seen that the Chicago White Sox claimed Manny Ramirez on waivers.

You may also have noticed that the Dodgers asked for absolutely nothing in return — the ChiSox took on Manny and the remaining $4M of his contract free and clear.

I know, I know — it’s all moot now, since the Mets are a dozen games behind. But when Manny first went on waivers, Omar Minaya insisted the Mets still “had a chance” at making the playoffs. Without a shadow of a doubt, the one glaring issue holding them back at the time was a lack of offensive production. For all the baggage Manny brings to a team, he also brings a big bat. Even in his current underperforming state, he still would have walked into Flushing as the best hitter in the lineup. And getting him would not have cost a prospect, as so many fans had been concerned about. It would’ve cost nothing, in fact, except the one thing the Mets supposedly have: cash.

But the Mets didn’t claim him. Therefore, Minaya lied about believing the team was still “in it” and Jeff Wilpon also lied, since he consistently insisted that money was not an issue. Because if indeed the Mets had money to spend, and believed they could still salvage September, Manny would have been a Met right now.

On the one hand, it doesn’t matter because we all knew long ago that this team wouldn’t be playing October games. But on the other hand, it does matter because yet again the ownership and management has played us for fools.

Thank you sir, may I have another?