Manny, Manny Floating Free

• Manny Ramirez rejects the latest official Dodgers offer of $25 million for one year:

    Supposedly the Dodgers had given Manny 48-hours to accept or decline the offer, but he and agent Scott Boras didn't need that long because the rejection came almost immediately after the story broke that the offer had even been made. The only value a deadline has is if the team stands by it and moves forward with another option; if the Dodgers sign another available bat like Bobby Abreu or Adam Dunn, or trade for Jermaine Dye, that'll be the only clear indication that they were serious with their "48-hour" window for Manny and Boras to agree to the deal. Until that happens, I can't believe that the Dodgers are out of the running for Manny; but if such a thing does happen; of the Dodgers do move on, where does that leave Manny?
    Manny Ramirez will be sitting out in limbo and waiting for someone to make an offer. This will present an opportunity for a team that needs a bat----the Giants, Mets, Angels, Reds, Cardinals----to throw the Hail Mary and go for it all now. The risks of Manny are well-known, but one thing that has to be taken into account is that Manny will always hit and he'll always be oblivious to pressure. The state of the National League is such that the signing of Manny would shift the balance of power toward whichever team gets him.
    On the top tier are teams like the Cubs and the Phillies, who despite being the class of the league, are vulnerable. After that, there are a bunch of teams who are going to accumulate win totals in the mid-80s who would find themselves right on the doorstep of being the best team in the league. Which one is going to take the risk? Which one is going to shut their eyes and throw the pass hoping that it connects? Manny's expensive; Manny's a pain; Manny's got a bad reputation with his moodiness; but Manny is also one of the best hitters in the history of the game; and he's out there waiting for someone to make him an offer that will allow him to save face and not go crawling back to the Dodgers under their terms. 
    The main obstacle to Manny being heavily in demand is money. It's not the way he got out of Boston or his reputation----it's money. Teams continually gave chances to guys like Steve Howe, who by all rights, should've been told to take a hike years before his career ended. Has Manny ever done anything remotely close to the self-destructiveness of Howe? By all accounts, Manny has, for the most part, been there when the bell rings. Teams don't want to pay Manny and they're hoping that his price reduces to a point where it becomes a realistic endeavor to bring him in at a discount. As long as the Dodgers are bidding against themselves, that's not going to happen; if their 48-hour window was real, then a different player will be signed in the coming days or if another team strikes for Manny, then the situation will be resolved.
    This whole thing is going to come to a close in the next few days if a team with nothing to lose decides to go for it all with Manny or if the Dodgers stand by their deadline. Is there the "Manny discussion" going on right now in the front offices of the Mets, Giants or Angels despite their insistence that they're not interested? These vacillating teams have to realize that even though they'd be paying Manny $50 million over two years (plus perhaps an option for a third year at another $25 million when he'll be 39-years-old), they'll gain an unprecedented amount of revenue from his mere presence; they'd sell T-shirts; jerseys; bobbleheads; be able to center promotions around him; and most importantly, playoff and World Series revenue; the money would come back to them if he hit and the team won, and both things would happen for any of those teams for whom Manny would be a perfect fit. And I'll say this: at crunch time, I'd much prefer to have Manny standing in the middle of the storm than Alex Rodriguez.
    Manny's out there and waiting with the spectre of a World Series surrounding all that risk; the question is will someone other than the Dodgers take that chance?

• Why are the Cubs decimating their depth?

    Trading Rich Hill was understandable given how he started showing the symptoms of the Steve Blass/Steve Trout/Rick Ankiel disorder of not being able to throw strikes; it made sense to get something for him and to send him to the Orioles where he'll get a chance to pitch in the big leagues. As for the deal that sent Michael Wuertz to the Athletics for minor league outfielder Richie Robnett and infielder Justin Sellers, it makes very little sense.
    Wuertz has been one of the better----albeit unappreciated----middle relievers in baseball over the past few years. While not being a household name, Wuertz takes the ball willingly; generally throws strikes; strikes out a good number of hitters; and doesn't give up an inordinate number of hits or home runs. And the implication is that his replacements in the Cubs bullpen will be the shaky Kevin Gregg and/or Aaron Heilman; this would give me great concern if I were the Cubs. Gregg just isn't any good and will very, very quickly be housed in manager Lou Piniella's doghouse if he gets off to a bad start; and I've had a closeup view of Heilman for the past four years and if he doesn't make it as a starter, then he's not going to be any better in the Cubs bullpen than he was for the Mets.
    The Cubs farm system is gutted and that's one of the main reasons they were unable to get Jake Peavy from the Padres, but is now the time to start replenishing the farm system at the expense of depth on the big league roster? The Cubs are a now team; with a now manager; and if Sellers or Robnett help the team at all in the coming years, it's probably going to be after Piniella has retired to return to broadcasting and wait for a possible call to the Hall of Fame as a manager. Bullpen help is always more valuable when the season is rolling along than a couple of prospects, neither of whom appears to be can't miss. This was a great move for the A's and a big mistake for the Cubs, which they'll learn after watching two or three games blown up because of Gregg and Heilman along with a well-timed tantrum from Piniella.

• Mets re-sign Oliver Perez for 3-years, $36 million:

    All things being equal, Perez was the best option remaining for the Mets. Ben Sheets has a better on-field history than Perez, but he's always hurt; and Randy Wolf isn't a guy you want to count on over a full season. Perez has shown the ability to raise his game when the pressure's on and, if his head's on straight and he's concentrating on what he's doing instead of watching butterflies passing overhead, his stuff is wicked. The Mets would've been paying for alternative pitchers to sit on the disabled list or deliver pure mediocrity if they had to replace Perez, so it was better to get him on a short-term deal for a reasonable amount of money hoping that he'll pitch as he did in 2007 and for chunks of 2008 and that the one career-year in which he's going to win 17-20 comes in those three years. (Of course, he'd probably go 9-14 the year immediately following, but beggars can't be choosers.)