The Dodgers Are Trying To Entice Manny Ramirez With A-Rod Money But With Andruw Jones Years

The biggest question currently on the minds of most baseball fans and GMs–other than “who’s going to win the World Series”–is which team is going to land Manny Ramirez. The last time we saw the left field slugger was in a Dodgers uniform leading Los Angeles to an improbable post season run that left the team just short of the Series. So of course Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras are going to want any team to meet their demands, which boils down to Alex Rodriguez money and years. Well, word has leaked that the Dodgers are ready to pay him the salary, but not willing to shell out the years. And it’s not because of Ramirez’s temperament or history, but they way they’ve been doing business lately under GM Ned Coletti.

the Dodgers have benefited from keeping most of their free-agent contracts, like those for Rafael Furcal and Andruw Jones, to short-term deals, and are telling people that they want to stick to what appears to be close to a company policy — though while Furcal signed for three years and Jones for two, the Dodgers did step out to give Juan Pierre a five-year contract.

Boras, though, noted that A-Rod’s 10-year deal takes him to age 42, and that Bonds’ previously mentioned five-year deal took him to the same age. Were Manny to sign for six years, he too would be 42 at its conclusion.

Considering Ramirez hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs in 53 games with the Dodgers, the team should go with an extra year just for good measure. We’ve always kicked around the idea of a five year contract with an buyout option after the third. Why? Because if you look at Andruw Jones’ contract, which paid him $36.2 million over two years for a batting average about half the number of his weight, the payoff is potential is much greater. Los Angeles got him for free this year, and with the performance he put in and the acknowledged effect he had on players like Kemp, Either and Loney, it’s worth $100 million over four years. Come on, just think of the revenue that could come in on Manny hats alone (if anyone could find them).
Earlier: Get Ready For Your Manny Ramirez Dreadlock Hats
Dodgers may show Manny the money, but years are another story [SI.com]
Preliminary agreement would give Jones $36.2 million [ESPN]
Image [SI.com]