I can't believe that Manny Ramirez turned down the latest contract offer from the Dodgers of one year at $25 million dollars. I would have taken it and ran with it! I mean, he would have been the second highest paid player in baseball this season. And by the way, this is the third time that the Dodgers have tried to secure Manny's services and failed. It doesn't help either that he is represented by mega-agent Scott Boras. Manny Ramirez, who turns 37 in May, thinks that he is living in this dream world where a team is going to finally budge and give him what he wants, a 4-5 year contract probably at around a 100 mills. I think he fails to realize that his market is not as strong as first thought. In the first offer the Dodgers presented to Manny back in November, they offered him a 2 year contract worth $45 millions dollars with an option for a third year and he never responded and they took it off the table. It seems to me now that that was the best offer he's going to get this off season. Other than the Dodgers, the Giants have also expressed interest in the slugger but have yet to make an offer, and if they do, it probably will be similar to what the Dodgers have made. Boras claims that there are several teams interested and it may be true, but I think he is just trying to get other clubs to start a biding war for his client and nobody is biting his bait. If you are an Astros fan, you may remember Carlos Beltran, who bolted to the Mets much in part thanks to Boras achieving the bidding war he wanted. The longer the contract and the numbers, the more he gets paid. And if Manny were to sign for a 1 or 2 year contract, it would minimize Boras's potential profit as oppose to a 5-6 years contract. I wonder who is really running this show. I mean, it can't be the money. Certainly $25 millions is fair. If it's because it is only a 1 year contract, what's wrong with that? He'll get to explore the free agent market one more time and do whatever he wants again. Maybe he is worried that he is not going to have as good of a year as last and his stock may fall even more. By signing a 4 or 5 year contract it obliges the team to pay him his money regardless of production from the player.
Here is the thing. It's not that the Dodgers don't want to spend money, but it doesn't make sense for them to sign Manny for that long of a contract. In five years Manny will be almost 42, where will the Dodgers play him then, still in the outfield? The only way Manny will get that kind contract as far as years will have to be from an American League team where his bat can remain in the lineup as a designated hitter. But in the NL, two years should be the max offered to him. Remember on the field, routine flies are an adventure to him. The Dodgers and Manny make sense. He obviously enjoyed playing in the city, hitting .396 with 17 homers and 53 RBI's after the trade. He expressed that he liked Los Angeles and playing for the Dodgers. Then he should sign. The Dodgers should make him one final offer with 48 hours to decide. If he chooses to say no again he might find himself still unemployed by the beginning of the regular season. And then what? Neither Manny Ramirez nor Scott Boras will get paid.
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I hate the way these agents do business. The whole reason behind their negotiations is to line their pockets. If i were a player I would have different priorities. Market value is one thing, but the money that some of these players demand is outragious. Were I a marquis player I would want to win, whether that means going to a good team and taking less, or taking less so that a team could put players around me. (Of course there is always the Yankees where both is possible). I'm not saying you shouldn't get paid, but there are more important things than money to these players I should think, but that is not the case for their agents. All they care about is their percentage, even if that leaves these Franchises, their teammates, their fans, and ultimately the players, in the lurk.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Bryan, and for the most part, the player has the final say on where he wants to play and how much he wants. The agent then gets them to think that they are worth much more than that and then, when they find themself accepting minor league deals by the time spring training camp opens, they wonder why they listened to their agents in the first place. When a player decides to hire Boras, I wonder if that player doing the hiring have his priorities straight.
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