Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 17, 2008
Hurting his Options?

Manny Ramirez isn't exactly endearing himself to the Red Sox front office:

"I want to know what's my situation." Ramirez told Bradford, which is a little puzzling when you consider even casual Sox fans know his situation. The club holds two one-year options on Manny's contract, each of which, if exercised, amount to $20 million. If the Red Sox exercise the option for 2009, Ramirez remains in Boston for at least one more season. If they do not, Ramirez is free to sign with a new team.

It's just Manny's situation being Manny's situation.

"I want no more (expletive) where they tell you one thing and behind your back they do another thing," Ramirez said. "I think I've earned that respect for a team to sit down with me and tell me this is what they want, this is what they want to do."

John Henry's response is here.

Manny is still a very good hitter, but he's no longer a .600 slugger. Despite the big off-season workout regimen, Manny's averages are very similar to 2007, an off-year for Ramirez. Given the inflation in salaries recently, a .390 OBA/.500 slugging could very well be worth $20 million a year, but if would be a lot easier to exercise the option if Manny wasn't accumulating some negatives.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:36 AM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Manny's not at the level where there are few comparable options - he's at the level where you could look at replacements, go with the young guys or just walk away. My guess is that unless they repeat Manny will be testing the waters. Even if they repeat I wouldn't put it at better than 50/50 he'll be back.

Posted by: Bandit at July 17, 2008 11:49 AM

Well, clearly 20 for a year of Manny is overpaying. But there's room to overpay for a stopgap for a year while you wait for a true opportunity to fill that hole in the long-term. I suspect that what is going to happen is that the Sox will wait for the offseason, try to find a deal they actually like, as opposed to one they need to make to fill an otherwise empty spot, and if they don't find one, exercise the option and overpay for solid, but no longer spectacular, production out of Manny. Overpaying for Manny on a year-to-year plan is better than overpaying for a mediocrity for four to five years.

Posted by: NBarnes at July 18, 2008 02:15 AM
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