Tag: Los Angeles Dodgers (Page 17 of 30)

      Manny placed on the back burner for Giants

      February 24, 2009 /

      The Giants waning interest in Manny Ramirez is fading even more these days.

      Manny RamirezGeneral manager Brian Sabean says Ramirez is “back burner” for his team, and other Giants people suggest that unless negotiations break down with the Dodgers and Ramirez is willing to go to San Francisco for something like a one-year, $20 million deal, they’re not getting him.
      Remember, the Dodgers have already offered $25 million for one year.

      The Giants don’t seem inclined to beat that, and from all indications so far they haven’t tried. The Giants don’t seem overly concerned that Ramirez will sign with their division rival, presumably because they’ve expected that to happen and because they’re not willing to outbid the Dodgers.

      Could the Giants be bluffing? Sure, although as their other winter moves suggest, they’re more a strike-fast team when they really want a player.

      Truth be told, I don’t think the Giants were ever interested in Manny. I think they faked interest to screw with the Dodgers but now that spring training is set to commence, they can’t be bothered with this story anymore. They have a young left fielder in Fred Lewis that is coming off his best season as a pro and they want to get him more at bats. They overpaid centerfielder Aaron Rowand last year, rightfielder Randy Winn is a .300 hitter and Dave Roberts is an adequate fourth outfielder. Throw corner outfield prospect Nate Schierholtz into the mix and there’s just no room for Manny. And outside of his big bat, not much of a need either.

      It’s only a matter of time before Ramirez is a Dodger again. L.A. has to give a little more, while Manny and Scott Boras have to take a little less. But either way, the Dodgers are the only team that Man-Ram will be playing for in ’09.

      MLB, Rumors & Gossip

      Dunn and Abreu are off the market – is Manny next?

      February 12, 2009 /

      With Bobby Abreu set to sign a one-year deal with the Angels and Adam Dunn set on a two-year contract with the Nationals, one would assume that Manny Ramirez’s name will be the next to come off the free agent market.

      Rumor has it that Abreu and Dunn were the Dodgers’ backup plan if they couldn’t work out a deal with Ramirez, although according to L.A. GM Ned Colletti, that has never been the case.

      Manny RamirezRamirez stands alone among available sluggers now. Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu are off the market, Dunn gone to the Washington Nationals and Abreu to the Angels, two signings greeted with a shrug at Chavez Ravine.

      “I don’t expect them to impact us,” Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said.

      It’s Manny or nothing for the Dodgers. They never said anything different. There appears to be Manny money in the budget, reserved for him, not intended to be spent otherwise.

      I think everybody is going to need a hard drink after this situation is over. I don’t even know what to write anymore. This is like watching two chip leaders at a poker game and neither of them wants to put the other one in. Somebody (the Giants) should just walk up to the table and flip the whole damn thing over and end this charade.

      MLB

      Is Scott Boras screwing himself in the end?

      February 10, 2009 /

      For years, Scott Boras has been known as an agent who gets his clients the absolute best deal possible financially. His clients – Barry Zito, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, etc – have walked away from past contract negotiations with fat bank accounts and big smiles on their faces.

      But in playing hardball yet again with another club (the Los Angeles Dodgers) in order to get Manny Ramirez a long-term deal, Boras could be screwing himself in the long run.

      From ESPN.com’s Peter Gammons:

      Manny RamirezScott Boras has put the heat on Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and there has been no love lost. The L.A. scouting department has been told it will not draft Boras clients come June.

      That may hold true for a number of teams. With the economy in its current state, the Yankees, Red Sox and perhaps two or three other teams may be willing to ignore the commissioner’s office’s attempts to fix draft prices. Boras and other agents may determine that high school players would be better off coming out in 2012 when the economy should be more stable.

      Boras represents outfielder Donavan Tate, Baseball America’s top high school positional prospect, and could decide that Tate will be better served playing quarterback and baseball at North Carolina and allowing MLB and the NFL to set his price in 2012. Without the Dodgers and Tigers in the bidding, there may be very few teams other than the Yankees and Red Sox that may even contemplate Boras’ price on a high school player.

      Boras has cashed in for years on clubs’ dimes, but in doing so it appears that he has alienated himself in the process. Teams like the Dodgers are finally fighting back against bully agents like Boras, who might lose clients soon if he doesn’t change his negotiating tactics. He relies on two or more teams being interested in his clients and then he wages a war between the two clubs, who are often more than willing to drive up the price so that even if they don’t eventually acquire said player, the team they’re fighting against will have to pay top dollar.

      But in the recent case of Manny Ramirez, Boras has one team that’s officially interested (the Dodgers) and one team that might-kind-of-sort-of be interested (the Giants). And unless the Giants pony up and officially offer a long-term deal soon, the Dodgers will continue their refusal to budge on their one-year, $25 million offer. And worse yet, now the Dodgers are instructing their scouts that no Boras client will be drafted and apparently other clubs are doing the same.

      Boras is losing the Manny-contract battle and soon yet, he might be losing more than that.

      MLB

      The dance continues – Manny, Dodgers still talking

      February 4, 2009 /

      Even though their one-year, $25 million offer to Manny Ramirez was recently rejected, the Dodgers will resume talks with Scott Boras in efforts to get a deal worked out to re-sign the free agent slugger.

      Manny RamirezWith Spring Training opening in less than 10 days, even with Ramirez’s rejection of the one-year offer Monday night it appears that the intensity of negotiations has increased. The offer was the Dodgers’ third attempt to retain Ramirez, who in November did not respond to a two-year, $45 million offer plus an option and three weeks later did not accept the club’s offer for salary arbitration.

      The market for the gifted slugger has been murky, although Boras insists it has heated up. The Dodgers are the only club known to have made an offer. The Giants are the only other club to have acknowledged interest, although like the Dodgers, it is short term only. Boras said he continues negotiating with several teams on Ramirez but again declined to name them.

      The Dodgers, with no designated hitter rule available to provide a transitional role as Ramirez ages, have insisted they will not provide the four- or five-year deal he is seeking.

      Is this ride making anyone else sick?

      The Giants might hold the key to ending this charade. If they and the Dodgers are the only clubs that are even interested in Manny, then they should make an official offer and then sit back and wait. I’m assuming that if they truly wanted Ramirez, they would make an offer that’s lucratively better than the one that the Dodgers have offered. If not, then what’s the point? To drive the price up for the Dodgers? There are no other teams interested so that seems like a fruitless idea.

      With an official offer from the Giants in place, Boras could wait to hear back from the Dodgers. If L.A. is still unwilling to budge, then Manny should shit or get off the pot. Either take the Dodgers’ one-year deal for $25 million and become a free agent next year, or take a two to three-year deal depending on what the Giants offer.

      MLB

      Report: Manny turns down one-year deal from Dodgers

      February 3, 2009 /

      According to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers offered free agent Manny Ramirez a one-year contract worth $25 million, but his agent Scott Boras rejected it.

      I have no other details, other than that Scott met with Ned Colletti late tonight and told him Manny wouldn’t accept the Dodgers’ one-year, $25 million offer. Not sure exactly what this means, but it wouldn’t shock me if this is the end of it and the Dodgers simply move on. And if that happens, who knows where Manny will end up and when he will get there? More on this tomorrow, I’m sure.

      This situation seems to be going nowhere fast. Neither side is willing to budge in what it wants, and this might be the final straw for the Dodgers. Watch what Colletti and the Dodgers do over the next couple days. They might make a move for Bobby Abreu and officially end the dance with Manny. Or they could continue to ride this thing out, but with pitchers and catchers due to report soon that seems unlikely.

      MLB

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