West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Sports & Entertainment => Topic started by: Elano on December 30, 2008, 01:26:38 PM
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(http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-12/44276507.jpg)
'Manny is our first choice,' General Manager Ned Colletti says, but stalled negotiations lead club to consider other corner outfielders in what has become a buyer's market.
As the stalemate between Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers approaches its third month, the club is exploring whether Bobby Abreu or Adam Dunn could replace Ramirez in left field.
The market for Ramirez apparently has not heated up even after Mark Teixeira, the most coveted hitter available in free agency, signed last week with the New York Yankees. General Manager Ned Colletti said Monday the Dodgers have not heard since then from Scott Boras, the agent for Ramirez and Teixeira.
"I'm assuming, if Manny wants to play here, we'll hear at some point from Scott," Colletti said.
Colletti would not discuss what other players the Dodgers might pursue.
"Manny is our first choice," Colletti said.
The Dodgers offered Ramirez a two-year, $45-million contract eight weeks ago, then withdrew the offer after Boras declined to propose a counteroffer. The Dodgers also offered a one-year contract via salary arbitration, which Ramirez declined.
Ramirez, Abreu, Dunn, Garret Anderson and Pat Burrell are among the corner outfielders available in what has become a buyer's market, although the Dodgers are not believed to be interested in Anderson or Burrell.
The Dodgers found a possible taker for center fielder Andruw Jones in the New York Mets, but the talks apparently went nowhere after the Mets asked the Dodgers to take second baseman Luis Castillo in a swap of bad contracts. Jones has one year and $22 million left on his contract, Castillo three years at $18 million.
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Manny>>>Bobby & Dunn (combined) lol.
hes going to be a Yankee. 8)
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Manny>>>Bobby & Dunn (combined) lol.
hes going to be a Yankee. 8)
real talk fuck a Dunn or Abreu
hope he stays with the Dodgers though
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yankees sloppy seconds eh?
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good move by the dodgers. and i dont mean signing dunn or abreu, but showing boras that we have other options, and that he fucked up by not even responding to our offer.
yankees wont sign manny, and no other team has expressed interest...he will be a dodger when its all said and done, but the ball is now in our court.
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what did i say? it looks like boras contacted the dodgers about resigning manny. :bandit:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers31-2008dec31,0,7208810.story
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i predict a 2 year, 50(ish)M deal, with a club option or player option thatll vest according to production, worth another 25ish mill. :bandit:
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dodgers are in a laid b ack city they'll be good for manny
when the weathers great and not 30 degrees and snowy in april he'll love it
the $$$ is all that matters. im shocked thie cubs and mets didn't bid...the mets love latin players
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their GM wants him, but the owners wont even consider it. too bad for them, santana in the rotation, manny in the lineup, krod in the pen is :o
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their GM wants him, but the owners wont even consider it. too bad for them, santana in the rotation, manny in the lineup, krod in the pen is :o
krods arm will blow out eventually...great closer and all but stat wise Putz in the last 3 years is better. krods save record was mad over-ratedi, there were atleast 2 or 3 closers w/ better years (Mo, Papelbon, Nathan, Lidge)
but yeha, wrights been slumping last 2 years.
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Bobby is a good player...he's not a person who can carry a line up...but he's consistent and one of the best (top3) at working pitch counts....his fielding might be falling off...but dude is good.
Good to have in the line up. Can always count on a good at bat...and batters behind him love that.
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Mannys good in l.a. If he goes to the new york gaynkees then fuk that
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Mannys good in l.a. If he goes to the new york gaynkees then fuk that damn were cheap.
fixed! 8)
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Mannys good in l.a. If he goes to the new york gaynkees then fuk that
"gaynkee" are you 12??
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great, maybe Dunn and Kemp can be the first 500 strikeout tandem ever
all the while Manny hits a fuckin homer every other at-bat for another team
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And fuck the new york giant dick in thy ass
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And fuck the new york giant dick in thy ass
You want a giant dick in the ass ? Wow not even a no homo can save you.
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dodgers are in a laid b ack city they'll be good for manny
when the weathers great and not 30 degrees and snowy in april he'll love it
the $$$ is all that matters. im shocked thie cubs and mets didn't bid...the mets love latin players
The Mets didn't bid b/c our owner is a cheap piece of shit. Even though I am torn on Manny. But the Mets won't even eat the contract of Luis Castillo and sign Orlando Hudson. But the Mets loving latin players is bullshit. The thing is Minaya used to be a scout. So all these latin players he knows since they were young and they're friends. So he does his friends favors. If he was white signing washed up white guys no one would say shit.
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I saw something about the Giants maybe quietly pursuing him
that would be really gay, he'd man handle the Dodgers for whatever that contract length is
if they lose him to a NL team it'll be tough but to another team in the division would be even worse
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And fuck the new york giant dick in thy ass
you want to fuck what???
man go to school
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I hope so we need all the hitters we can get
fuck it
Manny>>>Bobby & Dunn (combined) lol.
hes going to be a Yankee. 8)
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psshh..fucking rumors getting the jints hopes up....everyone and they momma knows hes staying in LA. whys errryone fronting? we just gave a big "FUCK YOU" to fatty mc fat fat anf freed up some $$.
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Tommy fits was just caught sucking off the entire new york giants damn I was just messing about u being gay but I guess if that's what u wanna do ha ha faggot.
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Dodgers are playing the Manny Ramirez game perfectly
The Dodgers have found the perfect balance on the tightrope toward signing Manny Ramirez.
We knew it would be a tightrope.
We had no idea it would stretch into January.
We knew the Dodgers had the money and the attitude.
We had no idea they had the stomach.
They do. It has served them well. The Dodgers have found the perfect balance in this perilous walk toward Manny Ramirez, weathering the hot stove's blasts, enduring the Boras spin, stepping through thick smoke screens to come within a few yards of a dreadlocked destination.
Now, if they can only keep their balance and finish it.
Finish it by signing Ramirez to the same two-year, $45-million deal they offered him two months ago -- just enough to keep him hungry, their fans happy, and the team contending.
Anything longer will turn Ramirez back into a dog. Anything richer will make the Dodgers look like fools.
Nobody will give him more. No other place will love him more. If he can get a better deal elsewhere, fine, but so far, he hasn't, and here's guessing he won't.
Two years, and the Dodgers can ensure he will keep trying, while Ramirez can be assured fans will keep cheering.
Two years, and everyone is happy but five-year-seeking Scott Boras, whose winter commission dollars will be reduced to a gazillion.
"We want Manny, and Manny knows it," said Ned Colletti, the Dodgers general manager. "We'll just keep talking and see if something can't be worked out."
It's amazing that a guy who left Dodger Stadium in another universe has suddenly landed back in their laps.
I have written that Ramirez did not deserve more than a two-year deal, but, goodness, I always thought he would get it from somebody.
I thought somebody would fall in love with the dramatics and forget the histrionics. I thought somebody would think only about how he energized the Dodgers, and forget how he abandoned the Red Sox.
Surely there was a sucker out there somewhere. For a while, I thought that sucker would be Colletti.
But the pleadings of fans and media to give Ramirez the keys to Chavez Ravine -- keys he would have lost on the way to showing up three days late for spring training -- the Dodgers held firm.
They made that two-year, $45-million offer. They rescinded it when Ramirez didn't respond. They haven't made another offer since.
And guess what? They have not been alone. It turns out, my idea that Ramirez was not worth a long-term deal was neither novel nor singular. The rest of baseball agreed. Nobody has made him a serious long-term offer. Nor, apparently, will they.
This is what happens when you refuse to play for the defending world champions, even for a day. This is the cost of being a malcontent, even for a moment.
Even when given a chance to benefit from the mother of all local bidding wars -- Dodgers versus Angels -- Ramirez has come up empty.
The Angels blew it on Mark Teixeira, desperately needed a big bat, and still wouldn't chase Ramirez probably because he wouldn't mesh with their buttoned-down manager, Mike Scioscia, and I don't blame them.
Joe Torre is the perfect boss for Ramirez. Los Angeles is the perfect town for Manny. He has told friends he wants to play here. More important, baseball has told him he has nowhere else to go.
A two-year deal filled with lots of money and lots of escape hatches, it's a match made in Manny.
"That's been our focus, Manny and the pitching staff," Colletti said.
Oh yeah, the pitching staff.
The Dodgers haven't shown as much fortitude there.
They gave up on Derek Lowe when they probably could have tried harder to convince him to stick around. They dumped Brad Penny even though they could have kept him relatively cheaply and later traded him. They couldn't sign C.C. Sabathia because, well, no pitcher is worth the money the New York Yankees threw at him.
Their rotation is left with the postseason-haunted Chad Billingsley, the befuddling Hiroki Kuroda, and kids Clayton Kershaw and James McDonald.
They need help. They need to go back to Lowe, who loves pitching for Torre, and figure out if they can make him happy. They need to check out the arm of Randy Wolf, who seems to pitch three great months every season, and see if he couldn't actually do it for six. They need to find 200 innings somewhere, or be prepared to trade a prospect this spring for it.
Oh, and in any case, they need to complete the signing of Trevor Hoffman.
Yes, he's aging and erratic, but he still had 30 saves in 34 opportunities for a dreadful San Diego Padres team last year, he still pitched strong at the end of the season, and he still has the sort of work ethic that can help the Dodgers in more places than the mound.
Think Greg Maddux, but in the bullpen. Think of one of the best closers in history grooming Jonathan Broxton for that job.
Colletti has done decent work this winter, getting the last bid on Rafael Furcal, locking up Casey Blake, admitting to failure with Andruw Jones.
He is close on Hoffman, and has the ammunition to add a starting pitcher, even if that doesn't happen until April.
The biggest question remains Ramirez, but the standoff is finally nearing an end.
His market has blinked. The Dodgers should not.
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I keep seeing stuff about him being offered a 3-year deal by the Giants
if the Dodgers let him sign there I'm gonna be sick
he would destroy them next year, no doubt