Dodgers pull offer to Manny
Negotiations aren't off, the Dodgers haven't walked away from the table ... but that two-year, $45-million deal extended by the Blue to Manny Ramirez (and by extension, Scott Boras) is no more, withdrawn by L.A., writes MLB.com's Ken Gurnick:
"We still have an interest in him," general manager Ned Colletti said. "This doesn't mean we won't continue discussions. They just can't accept that offer flat-out. It's like any other free-agent negotiation now. We'll have conversations and sometimes you're able to sign the player and sometimes you're not.
"Our exclusivity ended yesterday and now they'll have a chance to hear what other clubs are willing to pay and for how long."
Scott Boras, Ramirez's agent, said Colletti was "very upfront" with the decision to withdraw the offer but declined to comment on specifics of Ramirez's free agency.
Colletti said this sort of development is neither unusual nor problematic, but given the high-profile nature of the FA in question and the challenges inherent in negotiations with his agent, all news seems important.
BK
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I'm surprised that 36 hours in, no other teams have announced offers for Manny. Am I wrong to think that's weird?
Posted by: VA Blueblood | November 15, 2008 at 11:06 AM
I love it. Manny will see what he's worth on the open market, and I suspect it will be a whole lot less than he thinks. Great player, yes. Great signing? No.
But please oh please oh please do not sign Randy Johnson. Nobody here cares about him going for 300 wins, and he's not exactly Mr. Cheerful in the clubhouse. Rather, he's often hurt and likely to be so as a 45-year-old.
Posted by: SaMo | November 15, 2008 at 01:08 PM
I think thats a good move by Flanders (I cant believe I just actually said that). Don't bid against yourself. Determine internally the most you will offer, and then make another team make the first offer, then counter up to your limit.
I suspect that we will end up signing him for 3/65 with a club option for year 4.
Posted by: atticus | November 15, 2008 at 01:50 PM
what if they could get him for really, really cheap? Like, less than $1 million. There is at least some upside there... though I agree with your analysis of the downside.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | November 15, 2008 at 01:50 PM
I imagine Arte Moreno gonna make a serious offer to Manny. Probably 4/85 with a 5th year option @25.
Posted by: A Scanner Darkly | November 15, 2008 at 03:03 PM
VaBlueblood
What if the good folks of Virgina could get QUALITY teacher's for say $100.00 a year. Wouldn't that be wonderful? That would be a great upside, huh? The thing is, everybody gets paid what they are worth. If they weren't, they would go somewhere else.
Package
Posted by: Package | November 15, 2008 at 04:46 PM
3 years
90 mil
A BBQ Grill
A new midget.
That's as far as I'm willing to go.
Posted by: benzojones | November 15, 2008 at 05:13 PM
I'm not as worried about Manny as I am about the infield and the rotation. Manny's bat is a luxury as far as I'm concerned.
The infield & the rotation need immediate attention. We need to lock up Rafi, and then see if Orlando Hudson wants to join the fun.
(Imagine Loney, Hudson, Furcal, & Dewitt around the horn! Slick fielding & hitting!!) Plus Furcal & Hudson are great clubhouse guys - potentiallly offset the "Manny" clubhouse effect.
If you can pull that off then we're even more likely to land one of those frontline starters that we could really use. (Pitchers just love to know that they have a solid infield behind em)
Obviously it'd be great to have CC at the top of the rotation but with the cash he's gonna need maybe we could gamble on 2 starters and lock up the bullpen. (Beimel of Affeldt, maybe Wood if Saito isn't coming back?)
That's still a lot of $$$, but we do have a lot coming off the books. Also considering the rest of the NL West is in in limbo we might as well go for it!
Guess we'll see.....
Posted by: jukuren | November 15, 2008 at 05:51 PM
Package,
Uhhh, yeah. I was implying that Randy Johnson--as a 45-year old, injury prone pitcher--wouldn't be worth that much. I don't understand what you are disagreeing with.
Benzo,
I'm not sure that "midget" is the preferred nomenclature anymore. But I like the move towards creative bartering.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | November 15, 2008 at 09:50 PM
Guys-
I usually don't recommend Bill Platsche (Mr. Contrarian), but read his latest column. He nails it. This is exactly what I've been saying the Dodgers should do.
Posted by: True Blue | November 15, 2008 at 10:43 PM
Good move by Colletti. I've said all along that I don't see another team offering Manny the kind of money he is asking for. I'm hoping Boras finds the money is just not going to be there for him. Might even be able to get him for cheaper than the initial offer (I can dream can't I?).
Posted by: HardHittin25 | November 16, 2008 at 02:05 AM
Contracts with club option years at the end are based on the expectation that the player and the agent have just enough class to abide by them....
Posted by: massdodger | November 16, 2008 at 04:31 AM
Plaschke = McCourt
(Bill, please write several "oh Manny isn't that good articles" so we don't have to pay for a real star. CC will be outpaid by several tens of millions by another club, leaving us with Randy Johnson and Beltre -- great thinking Plaschke). Why, because Manny really got a "bad attitude" after winning two championships back east.
Posted by: LossLeader | November 16, 2008 at 07:35 AM
BILL PLASCHKE- Boston and Cleveland won without Manny because they had the offensive weapons. Manny along will not win a championship goes without question.
This team needs either Manny plus two other very good hitters, or 3 hitters sans Manny. The Dodgers seem to have a systemic problem in committing to competing at the highest level and executing a strategy to make it happen. (That is why Lowe has left and seems to underlie Kent's behavior.) I detect satisfaction with simply winning the West. LA is a big market team and the Dodgers seem incapable of fielding (and financing) a championship caliber team, a systemic problem over the past 25 years with some exceptions.
Hoping that the injuried guys can compete, the weight hitting guys exceed prior years performance, that youngsters will produce more, and that maybe we can pick-up someone in mid-season is not an effective strategy for our offensive and competing at the highest levels. Leave the wishing, hoping and praying to Church not the ballfield.
Posted by: Joe the Plumber | November 16, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Wasn't it Pedro Martinez that was hanging around with the midget ?
Posted by: dodgerdog | November 16, 2008 at 11:15 AM
At first I must admit I jumped on the Manny bandwagon...but the more and more I think about it I think we could definitely use the money to fill the other numerous holes in the lineup and rotation. Ive noticed there hasnt been that much talk about AJ Burnett, granted CC is the talk o the league when it comes to FA starters, but why not try and go after Burnett?
Posted by: fxgjr | November 16, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Joe the Plumber,
It's not that the Spend-Wisely crowd is satisfied with winning the West, it's that in the Wild Card era, all you need to do is make the playoffs. Once you are in, any team can win. I don't think there's been one WS champ since 2000 that was the heavyweight favorite coming in to the season. But if you just make the playoffs, have 3 good starters, and your offense is hot at the right time, you have as good a shot as anybody else in the playoff tourney.
I hate to admit it, but as a pure fan I would love for us to spend spend spend and bring in all sorts of mad talent. Yet as long as we are stuck with McLeveraged Buyout, this team will remain only in the top 10 in spending (not the top 3, where they should be given the size of their media market). And so we have to spend smart. Which is especially hard when your GM is dumb.
$22.5 million for Jones this year. And anything he does offensively will be viewed as Bonus by all of us...
Lastly, I really hate when I agree with Plaschke.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | November 16, 2008 at 01:27 PM
ok... not a midget. It appears that has not given Boredass enough inspiration to call me.
I now throw in NED COLETTI's MUSTACHE!
3 yrs
90 mil
BBQ
Coletti's Stache
(but he can still have the "little person" if he wants it.)
Posted by: benzojones | November 16, 2008 at 05:24 PM
VA Blue,
Agree on most points... however you lost all credibility w/ me when you said you "agree w/ Plaschke"... I don't even think Plaschke would agree w/ himself... the idiot doesn't even know what he is saying half the time, yet alone what he wrote.... if Plaschke made any sense, it was a mental moment lapse.
fxgjr,
Agree, what about Burnett?? He would be a very good choice for the Blue... could be a huge diamond in the rough.
Posted by: Rob | November 17, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Rob, you're absolutely right--we can avoid cognitive dissonance when Plaschke says something correct by presuming it was an accident. You know, like the broken-clock-right-twice-a-day thing. Or like if your dog barks at every single person coming up the drive, well, he's bound to bark at the one-in-a-million dangerous person too.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | November 17, 2008 at 01:40 PM
Plaschke is like the weather in New England: if you don't like what he has to say, just wait a day or two. He'll say something that completely disagrees with himself before the end of the week.
The difference is he'll manage to be wrong both times.
Burnett, meanwhile, is Carl Pavano all over again. Before his breakout year with Toronto this year, he was a 69-66 pitcher with a 3.8 ERA, but was constantly injured. He's shown flashes of brilliance, but never for a full season until now. I really don't expect him to start getting stronger at age 32. I could be wrong on this one, but I don't see giving him the kind of free agent money he's going to command. If he can be gotten on the cheap, however (i.e. $10 million a year or less), then, yes, he's a bargain. But if he wants Sabathia money, he's crazy.
Posted by: SaMo | November 17, 2008 at 02:21 PM