The hot rumor going into the winter meetings is that it's a 3 way horse race between San Diego, Los Angeles (Da Bums), and San Francisco to come up with the best deal to obtain LF Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox. It's interesting that all 3 are working the phones because:
1) Each team wants Manny partly to prevent him from going to their opponent in the NL West.
2) Theo Epstein, Boston's GM, used to work for Kevin Towers, San Diego's GM - and they've traded between each other previously.
3) Ned Colletti, LA's GM, used to work for Brian Sabean, San Francisco's GM - and they are clearly trying to outdo each other this offseason.
Will Manny wind up in the NL West? It's questionable at best, because Manny's a 10 and 5 guy, so he has the right to approve or veto any deal. He's never played outside the AL, aside from Interleague games, so he might not be inclined to switch leagues. Of course, Omar Vizquel made the switch a couple of years ago to come to SF, at an older age - so perhaps Manny would consider it.
The question is - who will come up with the best deal? Will he come West?
I will say this: Manny's one of the few players today worthy of the salary he's getting (by comparison to recent contract signings). Gary Mathews Jr and Juan Pierre are NOT worth the $50 million and $40 million each are getting (and I'm glad the LA teams are the suckers in that bet).
So...whaddya think?
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5 comments:
This is the sort of classic Sabean move - completely out of left field and unexpected. But, this time, I just don't know if it'll work.
I still think the Gigantes made a major blunder by not pursuing Bad Vlad a little more agressively a couple of years ago.
I definitely concur...even with the injuries Vlad has sustained with the Angels, his bat (with Barry) would have been potent.
Let's see if Sabes has any magic left, or if Colletti will outplay him again.
You Gigantes can have Manny. Yes, he's still worth every penny for his monster #'s (defensive liability notwithstanding) but I'd like to see my Bums go with the youth movement - if you haven't done your double take yet, we are LOADED - outfielders Ethier, Matt Kemp (a fixture in centerfield for at least a decade after Pierre is sent off packing), Joel Guzman and there's a top prospect kid named Andy LaRoche in Triple A just waiting for Nomahhh to go down at first. The future is so bright, I gotta wear blue shades...
Yes...the Bums FINALLY have talent in the system again. Word is either LA or SD have the best package to get Manny...but Manny's still a 10-5 guy, so who knows if he'll accept it?
Oughta be another fun year.
A resurgent Dodgers organization... wait, I've got to check... Isn't that a sign of the apocolypse?
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