Manny Being Greedy | The Sports Notebook

In light of the news that Manny Ramirez has once again turned down a contract offer from the Dodgers, this time a one-year $25 million deal with a player option for a $20 million second year, I feel like I’m trapped in an SNL segment I like to call “Really? with Jim.”

Really Manny? The economy is in the toilet, and the free agent market has dropped faster than you drop your bat after a home run. Quality veteran players – Bobby Abreu, Orlando Hudson, and Garrett Anderson among them – have taken peanuts compared to what they had expected, on one-year deals, with the hope that they will receive better contract offers next year if the economy improves. But when the Dodgers improve their offer to what boiled down to fives times what Abreu signed for just across town, you turn it down. You’re clearly a better player that him, but really Manny? Are things going differently on Planet Manny? Please come back to Earth and realize that, for once, just because you want something doesn’t mean you’ll get it.

And really Dodgers? You continue to improve your offers each time you are turned down, despite the fact that there aren’t any other teams that even appear to have interest in Manny. I mean, really? This reminds me of a couple of years ago when the Red Sox offer to JD Drew – another Scott Boras client, by the way – was increased despite the fact that they were bidding only against themselves. The difference? JD Drew was smart enough to take that deal.

This of course brings us to Boras. Really Scott? You really think that somebody is going to swoop in at the eleventh hour and save Manny from these apparently insulting offers? Or are you just trying to save face after costing some other clients large amounts of money? (Jason Varitek, I’m looking at you.) If I’m you, Boras, I’m getting worried it’s happening again. It’s like the Bob Dylan song goes, “Look out kid, it’s somethin’ you did. God knows when, but you’re doing it again.”

Does Manny really believe he’s going to get more money elsewhere? Has Boras convinced him he can? Some might think that this is less a case of Manny being Manny, and more a case of Manny being manipulated. I actually think it’s the former rather than the latter, as I feel Manny is far more intelligent than he is generally given credit for. Just because he’s a space cadet doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand what’s going on. But sometimes ego can get in the way of intelligence.

The sheer arrogance by both Manny and Boras, especially in this economic climate, is astounding – not surprising, mind you, but astounding nonetheless. I don’t see how either one of them can seriously expect to get a better deal than what has been offered. Their only glimmer of hope is the fact that the Dodgers have improved their offer each and every time they have been turned down, so the expectation is that they will keep improving the offer until Manny and Boras get what they want.

If I’m the Dodgers, I don’t make any better offers from here on out. Then again, I wouldn’t have made any better offers after the initial two year, $45 million offer was rejected. Regardless, at some point you have to draw a line in the sand. Just because that line should have been drawn so long ago that it would have washed away by now doesn’t mean it is too late now. The continual improving offers only lend credence to the idea that they can get more, and enough is enough. They refused your best offer; now it’s time to call their bluff and offer less than you already have. If it’s me, I give them one of three offers, maybe even giving the options of all three:

One year, $20 million
One year, $15 million with a player option for another year at $20 million
One year, $25 million with a team option for another year at $20 million

That’s it. Take it or leave it. Negotiations are over. If they really get a better offer elsewhere, they can take it. If not, it’s sit out or play for the Dodgers. The ball should be put in Manny’s court with the understanding that there will be no more offers. If he wants to take that ball and go home, then he has the right to do so. But I find it hard to believe he would. In the end, Manny is going to end up doing the same thing he has always done: play ball.