There has been a ton written about who will/should/needs to sign Manny Ramirez during the off-season, now that his has officially begun with the Phillies' victory last night in Game 5 of the NLCS, and the one and only factor that must be considered is money. Manny doesn't care where he plays, he just wants to make sure he gets paid...handsomely.
Manny is the most prolific right handed hitter in the game today and when he feels like playing, he must be mentioned in the top ten of the Game's (active) best. Nevertheless, it's the issue of his character and determination that many have questioned ever since he demanded his removal from Boston. Scads of people have blamed his agent Scott Boras for his eventual ouster from the Red Socks, which very well could be true, but it was obvious the Red Socks didn't want to pick up his $20 million option for 2009, so now Manny gets to play where he wants...or at least where he can get paid the most.
With that in mind, the teams that I think can/will compete for Manny are:
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Chicago White Sox
Chicago Cubs
Some of the teams on this list are only on because they can "afford" Manny. I don't think the Cubs will go after him, mostly because with the pending sale of the franchise, no one is going to authorize spending $100 million on a player. Plus, Alfonso Soriano in left field has been enough of an adventure for the team.
The Dodgers clearly must consider bringing Manny back after the unbelievable numbers he put up both in the regular season and the post-season. Manny carried this team to the NLCS and there are plenty of fans who want to see #99 back.
I specifically left the Boston Red Socks off the list because I don't think they can sink down and get Manny back. With the amount of money that Manny will demand (and probably eventually get), the Red Socks have made it clear that they are out. Jason Bay in left field will have to do for now, as long as they finally accept that he isn't as good as Manny. Bay has certainly been better than expected, but any Red Socks fan that tries to say he's as good as Manny is simply smoking crack.
Both New York teams will likely put in an offer, only because he's the best hitter on the market this off-season and the Yankees and Mets both need an upgrade in left field. Manny is from New York, growing up only steps from Yankee Stadium (so they say), which may not be a good thing when looking at his past antics.
I listed the Rangers because of two reasons: 1. they gave Alex Rodriguez the biggest contract in history (at the time), so they have proven they are willing to spend; and 2. they tried to trade Rodriguez for Manny after the 2003 season, but the trade was eventually blocked by the MLB Players' Association because Rodriguez would have taken a pay cut. This shows that the Rangers had an interest in Manny at one time, although it very well could have been simply an interest in getting rid of Rodriguez.
The Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants are the teams left and I think Manny could end up at any one of these two destinations.
The Mariners have previously tried to bring in free agents to help their hitters to the next level (see Beltre, Adrian and Sexson, Richie) but none have worked out for them since they signed Ichiro. But why not try for Manny? He has a much longer track record than Beltre and Sexson did when they were brought in and with Ichiro, Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez ahead of him, Manny should continue to knock in a ton of runs. The ballpark is bigger than most, but few of Manny's home runs land just over the wall; the guy crushes every ball he hits.
San Francisco may be a little hard pressed to justify spending that much money after the Barry Zito debacle, but you have to realize that paying $100 million for a hitter of Manny's capacity is clearly a better decision than giving Zito $126 million to play every five days. The Giants finished last season with a 72-90 record and Bengie Molina led them in homeruns with 16; only five players finished in double digits and three of them ended the season with 10. Molina also led them in RBI with 95 (a shocking number when I saw it) and Aaron Rowand was second with 70. If there is any team that could use Manny Ramirez's bat in the lineup, it's the San Francisco Giants.
There will be plenty of discussion over the coming months about where Manny lands, but I think the best two choices, for the teams and for Manny (or at least his wallet) are the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants.
Manny is the most prolific right handed hitter in the game today and when he feels like playing, he must be mentioned in the top ten of the Game's (active) best. Nevertheless, it's the issue of his character and determination that many have questioned ever since he demanded his removal from Boston. Scads of people have blamed his agent Scott Boras for his eventual ouster from the Red Socks, which very well could be true, but it was obvious the Red Socks didn't want to pick up his $20 million option for 2009, so now Manny gets to play where he wants...or at least where he can get paid the most.
With that in mind, the teams that I think can/will compete for Manny are:
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Chicago White Sox
Chicago Cubs
Some of the teams on this list are only on because they can "afford" Manny. I don't think the Cubs will go after him, mostly because with the pending sale of the franchise, no one is going to authorize spending $100 million on a player. Plus, Alfonso Soriano in left field has been enough of an adventure for the team.
The Dodgers clearly must consider bringing Manny back after the unbelievable numbers he put up both in the regular season and the post-season. Manny carried this team to the NLCS and there are plenty of fans who want to see #99 back.
I specifically left the Boston Red Socks off the list because I don't think they can sink down and get Manny back. With the amount of money that Manny will demand (and probably eventually get), the Red Socks have made it clear that they are out. Jason Bay in left field will have to do for now, as long as they finally accept that he isn't as good as Manny. Bay has certainly been better than expected, but any Red Socks fan that tries to say he's as good as Manny is simply smoking crack.
Both New York teams will likely put in an offer, only because he's the best hitter on the market this off-season and the Yankees and Mets both need an upgrade in left field. Manny is from New York, growing up only steps from Yankee Stadium (so they say), which may not be a good thing when looking at his past antics.
I listed the Rangers because of two reasons: 1. they gave Alex Rodriguez the biggest contract in history (at the time), so they have proven they are willing to spend; and 2. they tried to trade Rodriguez for Manny after the 2003 season, but the trade was eventually blocked by the MLB Players' Association because Rodriguez would have taken a pay cut. This shows that the Rangers had an interest in Manny at one time, although it very well could have been simply an interest in getting rid of Rodriguez.
The Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants are the teams left and I think Manny could end up at any one of these two destinations.
The Mariners have previously tried to bring in free agents to help their hitters to the next level (see Beltre, Adrian and Sexson, Richie) but none have worked out for them since they signed Ichiro. But why not try for Manny? He has a much longer track record than Beltre and Sexson did when they were brought in and with Ichiro, Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez ahead of him, Manny should continue to knock in a ton of runs. The ballpark is bigger than most, but few of Manny's home runs land just over the wall; the guy crushes every ball he hits.
San Francisco may be a little hard pressed to justify spending that much money after the Barry Zito debacle, but you have to realize that paying $100 million for a hitter of Manny's capacity is clearly a better decision than giving Zito $126 million to play every five days. The Giants finished last season with a 72-90 record and Bengie Molina led them in homeruns with 16; only five players finished in double digits and three of them ended the season with 10. Molina also led them in RBI with 95 (a shocking number when I saw it) and Aaron Rowand was second with 70. If there is any team that could use Manny Ramirez's bat in the lineup, it's the San Francisco Giants.
There will be plenty of discussion over the coming months about where Manny lands, but I think the best two choices, for the teams and for Manny (or at least his wallet) are the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants.
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