Losing the pick hurts a bit but I have faith the FO can keep a good farm system up and running even without the 17th. We have a very young core anyways right now so it's worth the gamble.
Manny might be getting closer to signing? Offer seems like a pretty good deal to me, if true of course.
Definitely is for both sides. If Boras would get off his high horse, he could be in a much better place and that lineup should be enough to clinch the West. Might even be better than last year if Schmidt's rehab really is going well.
Smart contract for LA if he signs. It will seemingly keep Manny motivated enough to have a big and healthy 2009 so he can test the market again in 2010 if he has a big year. And if for some reason he doesn't opt out they can keep him in 2010 as well. I don't understand why teams still give opt-out clauses but this one kind of makes a bit of sense.
If I'm LA right now I come back with a 1 year deal worth $15 million just to break stones. This is a little over the top with him turning it down. Where are the other offers? Who's honestly going to bid for him, giving him more money and years?
Because of deferred money it seems. More than likely Dodgers would accept the counterproposal because it's essentially the same but without the dragging out. Sorry Mets fans, you still haven't even given an offer all this time.
Colleti said the Dodgers will re-enter negotiations when the other offers Boras has materialize. Dodgers are bidding against themselves and they still keep upping the offer lol. They have to be reaching the end of that game.
Its getting dumb now. In this economy Manny isn't worth 20 to 25 million a year yet the Dodgers are still offering that to him and he still is saying no, deferred money or not, the guy is going to get the money and it's not like he doesn't have over $150 million laying around under his matress.
Manny's a done deal now. Pretty much the Dodgers were the only bidder and Boras's weak attempts to generate others (Mets and Giants were never a big factor) failed. http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/la-sp-manny-ramirez-dodgers5-2009mar05,0,4549688.story Lineup's looking good: (S) Rafael Furcal, SS (R) Russell Martin, C (L) Andre Ethier, RF (R) Manny Ramirez, LF (L) James Loney, 1B (R) Matt Kemp, CF (S) Orlando Hudson, 2B (R) Casey Blake, 3B If Schmidt's recovery is on schedule to replace Lowe and he returns to form, all the better.
Good to know that Manny ruined his rep over 5 million dollars, hope it was worth it to him. It's too bad.
If anything it was "super agent" Boras's rep that took a hit. Guy's a sleaze-ball to begin. Before he had all the bargaining power, now he's scrapping for anything in a lost cause. It wouldn't surprise me if he was behind all the fake offers and lofty goals he fed to Manny.
Considering the Dodgers were the only team that were going after him, I'd say he did. He's one of the greatest hitters ever and a HOFer but because of how he acted in the last month and a half with the Red Sox it's going to come back to hurt him as it already has and will continue to do in the future. It's really sad, especially because in the end all he ended up with was an extra 5 million dollars.
We should probably separate what Manny and what Boras did. I definitely believe it was all Boras. In fact, Manny was the one who instructed his agent to compromise because frankly, Boras was not budging and not being reasonable. That extra 5 mil? All Boras.
It won't hurt Boras because Boras will turn around and show his clients that in a down economy and down market he still got one of his players 20 million plus per year. It hurts Manny because now there's going to be a huge black mark on his career and in 10 years or so when he's going into the HOF, the moron writers who won't vote for him will bring up how he was known for quitting on his teams and how someone like a Derek Jeter or Cal Ripken would never do that. If Manny didn't pull that act with Boston you could bet that he would have landed a bigger deal than the one he got with LA because teams like the Mets and Yankees would have made offers but they, and other teams, were scared away.
Hey maybe Boras was the 'mastermind' behind Manny going awol on the Sox but the bottom line is Manny is a grown man and he has to take responsibility for himself. Boras didn't quit on his team, fake injuries, etc Manny did.
Though he didn't come through on his 4+ year demands. Manny still has to prove himself this year. I understand Red Sox fans have their gripes. But this contract stalling reeks of Boras. Colletti and him do not get along well. And it goes back to JD Drew. Sucks for your Sox but he's been great here. At 36, he did carry my team onto his shoulders into the playoffs.
Manny will put up the numbers, he always has. Sure Boras didn't get the 4 year deal but that's because of the way Manny ended his term with the Sox. The gripe has nothing to do with me being a Red Sox fan because the team made out fine with his trade. The Sox came without 1 game of making it to the World Series last year, maybe they would have won it with him but who knows. Anyone would sign up for their team to be in a game 7 of a LCS game. The thing I don't get with the Dodgers or the fans with the J.D. Drew contract is both the Dodger GM and the owner signed off on Drew's contract to give him the opt out. So the owner and GM can only blame themselves for Drew leaving. It's not like J.D. Drew forced his way off the team or anything, what he did was legal and let's face it, it was the best thing to happen with the Dodgers. And Dodger fans have every reason to love Manny, he's such a pleasure to watch hit everyday and was great to that team last year.
