Negotiation: Manny Ramirez is doing it wrong

First he has a two-year, $40 million option, but he doesn’t want it picked up. Then he gets a two-year $45 million offer, and doesn’t answer the phone. Then he gets a one-year, $25 million offer, and rejects it:

Manny Ramirez wasted no time rejecting the Dodgers’ latest offer, a one-year, $25-million proposal that was presented Sunday to his agent, Scott Boras.

In a conversation with Times columnist T.J. Simers late Monday night, Boras said he informed Ramirez about what he classified a suggestion by the Dodgers and that the All-Star outfielder turned it down. Boras said that he informed the Dodgers of Ramirez’s decision.

I know Scott Boras is an evil genius and everything, but has someone explained to him that the point of holding out is to make the offers go, you know, higher?

Whatever the case, we’ll know what Manny’s doing when Jon Heyman tells us what he’s doing.


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Jason @ IIATMS
15 years ago

MbM redefinied.  Keep saying NO until the offers dry up

Leo
15 years ago

That’s a good analysis of Heyman’s reporting, but wow, doesn’t Rich Lederer have smarter things to write about?

Jason @ IIATMS
15 years ago

Leo, it’s two weeks before ST and aside from Manny and a few other hitters, it’s quiet.  A perfect time to dig into the Boras stuff…

kranky kritter
15 years ago

How is 20/yr to 22.5/yr to 25/year down?

Not surprising that Manny may be cast in the role of annual gun-for-hire. The lack of interest in making a long-term committment to a known time bomb makes all the sense in the world.

What I am interested to see is whether the short-season auction format that Roger Clemens pioneered will spread furtheras veterans get low-balled.

Suppose Manny stays an FA and June 1st rolls around. How much is he worth then to a team with all the pieces but one bat short?

My expectation is that as time passes more and more veterans opt for the Clemens Country Club shuffle. It’s a long season. When you’ve already made 100 million or more over the course of a a career, there’s bound to be a lot of appeal in skipping spring training, April, and maybe May, and then signing for a small discount based on market scarcity.

Juke Early
15 years ago

Why guys like Manny – having made a lot of money – can’t take a one year deal for 25M is nuts. If he hangs huge numbers AND helps a team into the post season, he’ll cash in NEXT year. If he doesn’t, SFW. Why should these clowns get a guarantee in life nobody else gets. Is it possible he doesn’t know how old he is & is he that out of touch with life? My best guess is, yes. BUT Manny, take the 25 either way hombre. Maybe it’s Boras?

The Common Man
15 years ago

@ Juke

I can’t imagine that the demand for a 38 year old outfielder with a questionable attitude is going to be greater for a 37 year old outfielder with the same attitude, even if he’s productive (after all, Manny was historically awesome with LA).  If he were 5 years younger, maybe.  But he should have no expectation that, if he performs this year, he’ll get anything different than he’s getting this time around.

He’ll cave eventually.  I don’t see any indication that teams are becoming increasingly desperate for a big hitter as we get closer to Spring Training.  Nobody looks too frantic.

http://www.the-common-man.com

Leo
15 years ago

Juke, you hit the nail on the head.  Many of these guys are completely out of touch.  All the stories about Manny make it clear that he is more out of touch with humanity and the rest of his brethren.

Players still refuse to accept the realities of the recession. They’ll figure it out over the next few weeks and months when they realize, contrary to their bluster, that it’s better to take a one-year, $1.1 million offer than retire and earn nothing.

Manny, too, will realize that $15-20 million is better than zero.

YankeesfanLen
15 years ago

Two words for Manny: Andy Petite
But, I’m not saying he won’t end up with the Yanks anyway.

kranky kritter
15 years ago

We already know Manny is out of touch. To wax as poetic as someone else, SFW? What reason is there to think that Manny needs to be in touch? Certainly not supply and demand.

I’d be quite pleased to see Manny’s questionable character adversely affect his value. Most folks are eager for this to happen. But history suggests that doesn’t happen until production declines.

It’s pretty obvious why Manny wants a multi-year deal. It’s due to the dynamic common man describes.

Notice that history also suggests that teams are seldom frantic in spring training. If you spend all winter talking yourself into, say, Jed Lowrie, well then…It’s only after the phenom hits .190 for 6 weeks, or the converted closer has blown 5 of 6 saves, or the young starters all get their @sses handed to them that panic sets in.

So where does Manny end up if he decides to wait for a few teams to feel sweaty and needy? On whichever team feels they are 1 bat away from a legit title run as the weather warms.

I still expect Manny to end up somewhere for 2 years at 50 million or 3 years at around 70.I’d love to see him get stuck with less than what Boston would have owed him, But I just don’t think it will happen.

joe
15 years ago

The only ones more out of touch than manny are the yankees, the overpaying kings of all sports.  All that money and so few championships.  But i digress.  Manny’s going to be fine.

kranky kritter said…

How is 20/yr to 22.5/yr to 25/year down?

Someone will take a shot on this guy.  Probably the Dodgers, 2 yrs, ???  He still puts up sick numbers and is maybe the most clutch player in the game, (sorry, A-fraud.)