Only Scott Boras knows for sure what offers Manny Ramirez may or may not have, but it appears that the San Francisco Giants are the only team standing between Ramirez and a capitulation that the slugger might feel is utterly embarrassing.
The Dodgers made a $45 million offer to Ramirez in November and then withdrew it when Boras did not respond, and then the Dodgers made an offer of arbitration, and again, Boras did not respond, according to L.A. officials. So the Dodgers have sat back and waited for any other serious bidder for Ramirez to emerge, waited to see if there was any reason to extend their own offer.
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.
"We're still talking to him," Giants president Larry Baer said on Friday, "and we have interest. But it's one of those things where it's got to fit.
"Manny fits in one respect -- most obvious respect and probably the most important respect. He's a great cleanup hitter. But you have to look at the rest of it, how the contract fits, how the defense fits … On one hand, we'd like to do it, but we believe we've improved the team considerably."
The addition of Randy Johnson, Baer believes, could shore up the back end of the San Francisco rotation, which dragged down the team in 2008. The Giants struck quickly in the relief market and signed Jeremy Affeldt and Bobby Howry, to shore up their bullpen, and they believe that shortstop Edgar Renteria will be in much better shape this year, and therefore a much better player. They've also got a full complement of outfielders, with Aaron Rowand set to be flanked by Randy Winn, Fred Lewis, Dave Roberts and others.
They'll alter those plans, of course, if any Ramirez deal is right for them. "We'd like to push the button on Manny," said Baer, "but we have to do it the way we want to do it."
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.
A problem for Ramirez and Boras is that the Dodgers simply won't be pushed too far because market forces completely undercut Team Manny: The Dodgers can operate with the knowledge that if they don't get Ramirez, they could conceivably sign two really good players for the price of what they have offered Ramirez -- and the corner outfield market remains loaded with attractive alternatives, from Adam Dunn to Bobby Abreu to Garret Anderson, etc., etc. The Dodgers are going to get a really good hitter, one way or another, and they'll probably get Ramirez, at their price, just as the Red Sox got Jason Varitek at their price.
And the reality is that this late in the winter, the Dodgers might be the only team with $20 million available to spend on one player. "Who the hell has $20 million to $25 million available this time of year?" said one high-ranking executive this week.
Some rival executives believe that the Dodgers could offer a two-year, $30 million deal to Ramirez and still have the highest bid on the table -- and of course, two years and $30 million would represent less money than Ramirez would've made had he just stayed with the Red Sox. But part of the discussion, within the L.A. front office, has been about what number would completely embarrass Ramirez to the point that he would roll over on his team, in the way that he did in Boston.
Boras could not have been thrilled with Albert Pujols' reporting skills this week: In the same week Boras said the Manny market was heating up, Pujols said that Manny told him no teams are bidding on him.
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