It seems as though the standoff between Manny Ramirez and Scott Boras and the Dodgers is showing no sign of ending any time soon.
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Months after the Dodgers made a contract offer – $45m for two years seems to be the most widely reported figures – Manny is still without a team.
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Even in a very slow free agent market, I was expecting the Manny market to pick up after Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees, but little has changed.
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You have to wonder if Boras has an ace up his sleeve to get teams bidding against each other, or themselves.Â
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Or in a market which will likely see some more bargain signings in the next few weeks (such as Tampa Bay getting Pat Burrell at $16m for two years), has baseball’s super agent shot himself in the foot?
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Of the teams who missed out on Teixeira, none have shown any interest in Manny. He doesn’t appear to be a fit with the style of Mike Scioscia’s Angels, even though they could use another big bat. Washington have not shown any interest in Manny, despite putting in a big offer to Teixeira. And there’s no way Manny’s going back to Boston.
Which leaves the Dodgers, a decent team who have a good chance at returning to the playoffs should Manny join them.
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The Dodgers have learnt from the past about the dangers of signing players to expensive long-term deals, especially under former GM Kevin Malone.
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So GM Ned Colletti is sticking to his approach of offering short-term deals at slightly higher annual amounts to give the team flexibility and the player another chance of a free agent windfall if they play well enough before their contract expires.
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Boras is insisting on a four or five-year contract, which just isn’t going to happen with any team, let alone an NL team without the luxury of a DH.
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And as soon as Teixeira signs with the Yankees, Boras mentioned the Giants as potential suitors for Manny.
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Yes, the Giants need a big bat to help their chances in the NL West and if they were to sign Manny they would be installed as favourites to win the division.
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But to me this seems like a pretty obvious ploy on the part of Boras, trying to panic the Dodgers into upping their offer for Manny out of fear he may join their arch rivals instead.
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So what now?
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If I was the Dodgers, I’d make the same two-year $45m offer. Actually, I’d consider offering two years at $40m to really rub it in, but we know how important money is to Manny and Boras and you wouldn’t want an unhappy Manny in your clubhouse. Just ask Boston’s travelling secretary.
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I don’t think Manny and Boras have many other options. Let’s see if they have the guts to turn down such a big offer in a slow-moving winter.
5 comments
Well I’m not convinced that Manny Rameriez will be with the Dodgers this year. I think there is going to be fall out from Joe Torre’s book the “Yankee Years”. In spite of what everyone has said publicly, there has to be some anger over the fact that Torre wrote a tell all. I would love to seem him in pinstripes.
The way Manny left the Red Sox is probably still on the minds of potential suitors. He performed brilliantly for the Dodgers down the stretch, but is he going to show the same hustle when he isn’t staring free agency in the face? There’s no doubt he is still a potent threat at the plate though so if the Dodgers tough it out, they could get a top player at a decent price.
It certainly looks as though the market Boras thought would be there for Manny hasn’t materialized. He possibly also made a big mistake in refusing the Red Sox’s offer of arbitration for Jason Varitek. Still, no doubt the fee he got off the back of Teixeira’s mega-deal will soften the blow.
The economic crisis is now being felt by MLB. Short contracts that are incentive laden will become the norm. Ownership in MLB is being very careful to not overpay and or give long contracts. Prediction: Manny Ramirez ends up on the Dodgers with a 2 year deal. No way he ends up on the Yankees.
Everyone except Yankee fans hope they fail to make the post season in’09. I don’t care one way or another about them, but predict they do not make the playoffs.
There’s been talk of him going to the Mets (mostly among fans, but manager Jerry Manuel appeared to say that he could ‘handle Manny’ on Tuesday.) Whether or not that’s a real possibility, if you’re Boras you’ve got to think there are still possibilities to snub what he thinks is a sub-par offer from the Dodgers.