February 21, 2008
Manny's Future
Manny Ramirez is in the last year of his Red Sox contract, although Boston holds two option years:
"I want to stay here, but it's up to them if they want to bring me," he said. "But if they don't want to bring me back, that's fine. I know I'll be a free agent after '08 so that's another thing that I'm looking forward (to)."
The slugging left fielder is in the last year of an eight-year contract. Beyond that, the team has options for the next two seasons at $20 million each.
"It's up to them to say, `OK, we're going take (the option). It's not up to me to go into the office and demand a four-year deal, whatever," the 35-year-old Ramirez said. " No, I'm going come here to play the game, finish my year. If they want me to come back, I'll come back."
Boston is in an interesting situation. Manny is at the age when his skill are more likely to diminish, so he may very well not be worth $20 million next year. His skills, however, might still be so good that losing him would hurt the team. Might the Red Sox let him go as a free agent, then try to sign him at a lower price if that's what the market sets? If that happens, would Manny even bother dealing with Boston?
After his injury last year and his below normal (for him anyway) performance up until that point. One would have to agree that it all depends on how Manny performs out of the blocks in 2008 and/or how he finishes the year if they let it go that long.
No, if the team passes he will not entertain offers.
I'm as huge a Manny fan as anybody, but last year's 296/388/493 line, while quite valuable, isn't worth anything like the money he was paid or that those option years are worth, especially when you factor in Manny's historically awful defense.
Unless Ramirez puts on a very serious comeback this season, there's basically no chance at all that Boston will want to pay $20 for someone who's likely 2009 is 280/370/480. At that point, they'll probably just let him walk unless he wants to sign a two-year deal for $22 or something like that.
Manny would be far more valuable to a team that didn't already have an everyday DH. Or to put it the other way, the Red Sox would have a lot more use for an aging Manny if they didn't already have David Ortiz.
Middle-of-the-order power is one of the two rarest commodities in baseball. (The other is top-of-the-rotation pitching.) Manny is likely to offer that kind of production for at least a few more years; that should be worth $15 million a year to a major-market team with a hole at DH.
When the Sox signed Manny to that huge contract, it was seen as a huge gamble, if not a complete mistake. He's certainly delivered full value. Whatever else you might say about Dan Duquette, he certainly got this one right.