A Baseball Aside

Let’s get this Manny Ramirez thing out of the way. I mean, I’m a Dodger fan through and through (okay, love the Angels too) so, even though this is a basketball site, I’ve got to weigh in on the offer from Dodgers GM Ned Colletti.

For those who don’t know, it’s a base salary of $25 million per season, at around 2 or 3 years. The worst part about it is that Colletti threw out a not-so-subtle hint, “The offer won’t be there forever.”

Colletti, if we hadn’t gathered by your stellar signings—Jason Schmidt ($47 million), Juan Pierre ($45 milion for 5 seasons), and Andruw Jones (36.2 million for two seasons)—you really are a freaking idiot.

Here is a no-doubt hall of famer and you offer 2 years? A player who, single-handedly saved your ass from complete humiliation considering that the only good pieces of your team were drafted and handpicked by the two GMs who came before you.

Man Ram is the only good thing (scratch that, he’s a great thing) that has come from your tenure with the Dodgers. And don’t try to sell me on the merits of Jeff freaking Kent.

Manny hit .396 with 17 homers, 53 RBIs, 36 runs scored and a so-good-it’s-like-playing-on-easy-in-MLB-2k9-good 1.232 OPS. His whole season, Boston included, was a .332 average, 37 homers, 121 RBI and a 1.031 OPS. Very, very, very elite. Not to mention all the revenue that Manny Mania stirred up in Los Angeles, the fact that they were a sub .500 team before he got there and still managed to not only get into the postseason, but into the NLCS. There’s also all those Manny dreadlocks that were sold.

And, just like classic Manny, he was even more dangerous in the postseason, hitting .520 with four homers, 10 RBIs, nine runs scored and 11 walks in eight playoff games. He’s helped lead Cleveland to two World Series, helped Boston win two World Series, and helped the Dodgers get into the NLCS for the first time in 20 years. Instead of insult him, why don’t you embrace him.

Tell him, that you and the McCourts love him so much and think of him so highly that you are going to make him, per season, the highest paid player ever in the history of the sport. That’s how highly you think of him.

Offer Manny $30 million for 3 with a 4th year option. You know that shorter deals are always better, especially a player at his age. But, uh, a 2 year deal? That’s straight up spitting in his face.

And this is all coming from a guy who has never, ever, ever liked Manny. Despite the HOF career, I can't respect anyone getting paid ungodly amounts of money who quits on his team and acts the diva. Hated Bonds. Hated Sosa. Hate Curt Schilling.

Was listening to Scott Boras on ESPN radio talking about how he got Bonds and ARod deals that both took and will take them to 42 years of age. Big deals. Arod, the biggest.

Uh, if I were Boras, I’d maybe rethink that line of thinking. Bonds got to play until he was 42 because, well, he put unnatural substances into his body. Now, whether you believe that or not, you can’t deny that 99.9 percent of all players who push 40 years of age, decline rapidly. None of them, Bonds included, have ever hit 40 plus homers and batted .320 into their 40s. But that’s what a $25 million per season salary signifies.

Also, Arod plays both ways, and while Manny is better-than-advertised in left, he’s not an asset by any stretch of the imagination.

Accept a shorter deal and be content in the knowledge that you got your client the most lucrative, per season salary of all time. Another notch on your belt. Because, if you keep trying to get a 6 year deal, the Dodgers might just go out and try and trade for Jake Peavy and sign C.C. Sabathia instead. Because, like Cole Hamels has shown once again, pitching wins in the postseason.

So, let’s get the Manny deal done people. Please.