Tag: Manny Ramirez (Page 14 of 26)

Giants still a candidate for Manny?

January 31, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

According to Buster Olney’s latest column, the Giants might still be interested in free agent Manny Ramirez. (If they were even interested in the first place, that is.)

Lo and behold, the Giants have emerged as a player in this bidding. But it remains to be seen whether they are going to be shoving big chips at Ramirez, or if they’re just hanging in the thing to position themselves in the event Ramirez gets so frustrated with the Dodgers that he’ll walk away from L.A., at any price. It’s possible the Giants are not really bidding up Ramirez, but just hoping that a Hall of Fame bargain with a chip on his shoulder drops in their lap.
Executives with other teams do not believe the Giants are serious players in the Manny bidding. They think San Francisco’s real intent is to keep the Dodgers honest, to force them to give Ramirez at least a two-year deal. And if somehow Ramirez gets angered by the Dodgers’ level of interest and decides to deliver himself to their division rival, well, all the better for the Giants.

So basically, we know now what we knew three weeks ago about the Giants: they might be interested…but they might not be interested. Sweet.

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Bill Simmons: Manny Ramirez is underrated

January 28, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

ESPN.com’s “Sports Guy” Bill Simmons writes that Manny Ramirez is vastly underrated.

…Forget the sheer entertainment value that comes from following Manny on a daily basis. Just look at the stats. He’s three quality seasons away—90 HRs, 300 RBIs, 550 hits and a .900 OPS—from becoming the greatest righthanded hitter ever. Add those to his career numbers, and he’s sitting in the top 10 in career OPS and slugging, the top three in RBIs, the top seven in homers and closing in on 3,000 hits. And no one who saw him in all his Ruthian glory with the Dodgers last summer or reach base 24 of 36 times in October can honestly say he’s washed up. Say he tanked it in Boston, but only after you concede that he played 22 of 24 games for them in July and had the best offensive month of anyone on a team he was allegedly quitting on.
Whatever. The guy was created to hit baseballs. Even at 36, he can perform this task at an abnormally high level, make any decent team good and any good team great. And yet nobody wants him after his messy divorce with Boston—a divorce that, by the way, the Red Sox cannot escape without blame. Manny gave them seven quality years and two titles, and they yanked him around in Year 8. No, he didn’t handle it well; I’m not sure I would have handled it well either.
So he’s spent the winter sitting on the open market like a sofa on Craigslist. The Angels, who need him more than anyone, claim they’re fine with Juan Rivera. Really? Juan Rivera? That’s what you’re telling your fans? I don’t get it.
All I can tell you is this: Manny is immensely fun to watch day in and day out. He’s a monster offensive force, a historic one, even. And he is exceedingly, incredibly available. He will draw fans to any ballpark, and nobody is interested. You can say it’s because he’s a cancer; I say it’s because he’s unequivocally underrated. He will soon find a team and prove one of us right.
And it’s going to be me.

To me, underrated means that a player is better than what is perceived of him by the general public. (The general public being fans and the media.)

Therefore, Manny isn’t underrated. Everyone knows he’s one of the best hitters baseball has ever seen and everyone knows that his offensive numbers are phenomenal. If people only focused on his goofy behavior and his bad defense, then I would say that he’s underrated. But they don’t. The majority of the public always rushes to say that Manny is an offensive juggernaut.

Simmons is reaching here and what’s funny is that he’s setting himself up for a future column. He knows a determined Manny will produce next season no matter where he ends up and when he does, Simmons can say, “See! I told you this guy was underrated!”

No, he’s always been that good. Everyone knows that.

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Breaking down some Manny Ramirez odds

January 27, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

With pitchers and catchers set to report soon, the MLB free agency period has essentially cooled off. In fact – it’s over unless your team signing Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn or Pudge Rodriguez gets you all hot and bothered. Of course, there is one name remaining on the free agent list that could instantly turn an average team into a contender.

All has been quiet on the Manny Ramirez front of late. For the most part, nothing has changed, yet every day the 2009 season inches closer and closer and one of the best sluggers in the game remains teamless.

So which team will eventually sign Manny? Let’s break down the odds.

Los Angeles Dodgers: The boys in blue still seem like the best fit for Manny. The Dodgers would once again be the instant favorites to win a weak NL West and with Man-Ram in the lineup, they could challenge the Phillies, Cubs and Mets for the NL Pennant. But length of contract has been a sticking point between the two parties and neither seems willing to budge. Ramirez and Scott Boras want a five-year contract, but the club’s only official offer came 80-some days ago, which was for two-years and $45 million. With no other real competition in the mix for Manny, the Dodgers don’t have to blink first. But considering how stubborn Ramirez and Boras have been to this point, it looks like L.A. might have to bite the bullet and up the years of their offer. The stare down continues, although the Dodgers still appear like the most logical fit in the end.
Odds Manny signs with the Dodgers: 3/1.

San Francisco Giants: Depending on which report you believe, the Giants are anywhere from “highly” to “not a chance in hell” interested in Manny. Some believe that Boras made up the rumor that San Fran was interested because he wanted the Dodgers to panic and slap another year or two on their initial offer. But others truly believe the Giants are one big bat away from at least competing in the NL West and they’ll eventually break down and trump the Dodgers’ offer. But the reality is that the Giants don’t necessarily need Manny. Sure, their offense needs him, but Fred Lewis is younger, plays better defense and finally showed some potential last season in all facets of the game. And when you consider the Giants are still paying dearly for their Barry Zito gaff, offering Ramirez a huge contract would be foolish considering they’re still years away from competing for a World Series. Plus, Ramirez reportedly doesn’t want to play in San Francisco, although if the money is right than we all know he’ll play anywhere. The Giants will probably stay the course with their rebuilding plan and pass, but it wouldn’t be a shock if they made an offer.
Odds Manny signs with the Giants: 12/1.

New York Mets: The Mets seem to be the sleeper in the mix for Manny. They certainly have the money to throw at Ramirez and they would love to make him one of the attractions to go along with a brand new ballpark. Ramirez is also from the New York area and it’s now or never for the Mets to compete. They’re built to win now, so it would be a shame if didn’t do everything they could in order to compete with the Phillies in the NL East. Still, Manny to the Mets remains a long shot. They haven’t made any official offer and unlike the Giants, there are minimal rumors that the Mets are even interested.
Odds Manny signs with the Mets: 20/1.

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Hot Stove League: Lots of little movement

January 24, 2009 / Mike Farley

You know it’s a slow week in MLB again when the big news is that Jeff Kent has announced his retirement. And just like Kent does with ease himself, the news stirred up controversy. This volatile player has never quite been a media darling, and has often gotten into it with teammates. But there is now debate about the guy’s Hall of Fame credentials. Okay, he may have the most homers for a second baseman in history, but you can’t tell me this guy is in the same class as a guy like Joe Morgan. He’s just not. And while a .290 career batting average is nothing to sneeze at, 377 homers over 20 years is not exactly Babe Ruth-esque.

Anyway, as Manny Ramirez remains unemployed, there were a few other smaller signings and moves this past week….

Okay, this isn’t small but just announced on Friday, Prince Fielder has agreed to a 2-year, $18 million deal with the Brewers that will keep him firmly entrenched (and who could move the guy?) on first base in Milwaukee through 2010. I’m glad for the Brew Crew since they lost out to the mighty Yankees in the CC sweepstakes.

Catcher Gregg Zaun re-signed with the Orioles, the team that drafted him back in 1989. The journeyman player signed a deal worth $1.5 million with a $2 million option for 2010.

The Phillies signed outfielder Jayson Werth to a two-year, $10 million contract and also inked reliever Chad Durbin to a one-year deal worth $1.635 million.

Young right fielder Nick Markakis of the Orioles came to terms on a six-year, $66.1 million deal, covering his first three arbitration-eligible years as well as his first three free agency eligible seasons. Clearly the O’s believe in this kid and want to keep him away from the Yankees and Red Sox.

Two other catchers signed this week—Brad Ausmus reached agreement with the Dodgers on a 1-year, $1 million deal; and Henry Blanco signed a $750,000 deal for one year to back up Padres’ catcher Nick Hundley.

Shortstop Omar Vizquel, who at 41 still looks like he’s 25, has been invited to spring training by the Texas Rangers. Vizquel signed a minor league deal that will allow him to mentor 20-year old Elvis Andrus, and to possibly become the team’s utility infielder. In order to make room for Andrus on the field, the Rangers are planning to move all-star shortstop Michael Young to third base. In addition, the Rangers are said to be casually wooing free agent pitcher Ben Sheets, who lives in Dallas.

Meanwhile, Tom Covill of Yahoo Sports posted this great summary of the remaining big name free agents still looking for work. It’s really kind of mind-boggling, but looking at these tiny deals being signed this past week, it’s clearly about economics and nothing more.

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Hot Stove League: Pitchers Flying Off Shelves

January 17, 2009 / Mike Farley

This past week, John Smoltz officially signed with the Red Sox and the Braves inked Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million deal, something Atlanta’s rival New York Mets could not match. Imagine that. But what runs deeper here is that the second and even third tier of pitchers continue to be signed and many position players remain team-less.

Less than a month before pitchers and catchers report, here are some of the big names still available: Manny freaking Ramirez, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey, Orlando Hudson, Frank Thomas, and to a lesser extent, Kevin Millar (20 homers last season) and Orlando Cabrera. To put this in perspective, the Astros signed pitcher Russ Ortiz to a minor league deal a few days ago, the Dodgers signed reliever Guillermo Mota, the Angels inked Darren Oliver for one year, and the White Sox brought back a Bartolo Colon who is on the downside of his career. Clearly, it’s a pitchers’ market this off-season, and it’s almost mind-boggling that Ramirez has gone almost three full months without being signed.

Part of the problem here is that the big spenders (ahem, New York teams) have blown their collective load on the likes of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixeira, Francisco Rodriguez, etc., leaving a team like the Dodgers the likely scenario for Man-Ram in 2009, which at the end of the day is probably best for both sides anyway. But some of those other guys are going to have trouble finding work, or they are going to take a recession-friendly deal from a team they wouldn’t have signed with otherwise. It’s already happened with Pat Burrell in Tampa and Jason Giambi with Oakland.

In other more recent news, the Red Sox avoided arbitration with Kevin Youkilis on Thursday, agreeing to terms on a four-year deal. And the Dodgers finally released beleaguered outfielder Andruw Jones, who the Braves are considering bringing back for the league minimum salary. The Braves are also mulling over whether to bring back injury-plagued LHP Tom Glavine for one more season.