Baseball Musings: Manny Says No

February 03, 2009

Manny Says No

Via The Hardball Times, Manny Ramirez rejects the Dodgers offer:

Despite proclamations from Boras last week that he started negotiating with other clubs and that he expected Ramirez to be signed by the start of spring training, the Dodgers seem to believe that the player has nowhere else to go.
The New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals are among the teams known to be monitoring Ramirez's situation but don't appear inclined to pay him more than $20 million a season. The Angels failed to re-sign All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira, another Boras client, but have said they won't bid for Ramirez.

By taking the offer, Ramirez would have become the second-highest-paid player in baseball behind Alex Rodriguez and could have reentered the free-agent pool in a year. The Dodgers liked the idea of having Ramirez in a contract year, figuring the temperamental star would play as hard as he did in his two months with them last season, when he hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 runs batted in.

As Craig Calcaterra notes:

I know Scott Boras is an evil genius and everything, but has someone explained to him that the point of holding out is to make the offers go, you know, higher?

So what does Manny want? If most teams are either not interested nor willing to pay more than $20 million per season, is he simply waiting for a long term contract? Is there a dollar total, where years don't matter, that would land Manny? If a team offered him $75 million over five years, would Manny sign? If the Nationals are indeed interested, I'd try that. Even if they only got three good years from Ramirez, the contract is probably worth it, and Washington seems to be the perfect landing place for baseball jerks. Manny would fit right in.

Posted by David Pinto at 08:30 AM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Might he be waiting until the Dunns of the world come off the table and all of the teams with high aspirations and money saved up come around?
It's like at the end of an auction draft when there's a handful of teams with leftover money and all of a sudden they're spending Pujols money Casey Blake. I'd say that big league GMs are more rational, but, well, see the careers of Freel, Ryan and Majewski, Gary.

Posted by: Andrew C. at February 3, 2009 09:02 AM

What's wrong with $25 million for one year? If Manny was smart (chuckle) he'd take the money and motivation to do well for the next contract.

This would require some honest self-assessment, which is probably beyond Ramirez. But maybe Boras or somebody else with half a brain could point out that a one-year contract would motivate Manny to be a good citizen and produce. Not to mention that $25 million is, well, pretty good money.

By 2010 the memory of Manny's Boston antics would be fading, and more clubs might be willing to bid. Okay, there is an injury risk, but Manny has been pretty durable over the years...when he wasn't faking injuries, anyway.

Posted by: Casey Abell at February 3, 2009 09:42 AM

Hope this comes back to bite him in the wallet. The Dodgers are the only serious bidder. If the Dodgers sign Dunn or Abreau where does Manny turn and for how much? Manny is clearly the best hitter on the market. However, the other guys are not awful. Dunn for 9 million vs. Manny for 25???? How much more is Manny worth than Dunn especially when no one else is bidding in the same area code. His departure from Boston resulted in very few teams willing to take a chance on him not pulling the same crap with them.

Having said all that, I'd be glad to see him to return to Cleveland. Won't happen, but would be nice to see him bat between V-Mart and Hafner. Sizemore would score 140 runs.

Posted by: Largebill at February 3, 2009 09:50 AM

I find it hard to believe that any team will offer him more than $20m a year. If they give him an increase on the options that he allegedly tanked his way out of in Boston, they would be rewarding his behavior. That just seems like a bad precedent to me.

Posted by: Tom at February 3, 2009 12:20 PM

Your analysis assumes that (a) Boras is making stuff up, and (b) the teams are all telling the truth.

There is plenty of evidence for (a). Not so much for (b).

Posted by: Phillybooster at February 3, 2009 12:40 PM

How much better is $25M than $0M?

Posted by: bandit at February 3, 2009 06:50 PM