Rosenthal: O's and A's are teams most interested in Manny Ramirez

[TheBee]

He will be playing at 40 years old. His power had dropped so much that I didn't want him before the Tampa Bay debacle last year. Steroids, female hormones, being a malingerer and bad teammate aside, I think there are better options.

[Flosman]

The key to me is finding out if he still is trying to get pregnant, you just can't lose a guy because he is having a baby during the playoff race.

On the upside maybe he has herpes now and can find his past glory.

[PrivateO]

I'm sure this has been mentioned but I'm not sure I can suffer through 16 pages discussing Manny Ramirez.

God forbid a team (whether it's us or Oakland or whoever) signs him, but let's say someone does.

How much does he get? Maximum he's only going to be playing for 112 games, and I highly doubt that'll be the case.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm sure this has been mentioned but I'm not sure I can suffer through 16 pages discussing Manny Ramirez.

God forbid a team (whether it's us or Oakland or whoever) signs him, but let's say someone does.

How much does he get? Maximum he's only going to be playing for 112 games, and I highly doubt that'll be the case.

What's the league minimum salary now? $425k? So take 112/162nds of that, and you get $294k. Anyone who pays him more than that has been freebasing paint thinner.

[weams]

Signing Manny will be the straw that breaks the camels back for me. It'd be a long time before I ever stepped foot in Camden Yards again.

How about if I get free tickets and treat?

[weams]

Before I say anything, I want to make it clear that I am not in love with the idea of getting Manny.

But having said this, I don't think this is the same as Vlad, DLee, Sosa, Atkins, etc. Manny would be brought in as a known reclamation project, he should be paid very little, and not given an assured spot on the team. These other guys were brought in with fanfare that they were going to big contributors and were all paid decent money.

I'm not a big fan of Manny, but if he can be brought in with the condition that he MUST perform in AAA before any consideration of being brought up, then I have no issue with it. Like many have said, he will probably only take away at-bats from a guy like Betemit and we all know somebody will go down with an injury in the first 50 days of the season.

And he has a vesting option. The plot thickens.

[weams]

The key to me is finding out if he still is trying to get pregnant, you just can't lose a guy because he is having a baby during the playoff race.

On the upside maybe he has herpes now and can find his past glory.

Herpes is so 2011 Pennant race. Can of Corn has this new stuff that is used to treat Knee Arthritis in Germany. Or SARS. Or MRSA. 2012 man.

[atomic]

I bet if you did a poll of what player who was never an oriole would you definitely not want on this years team Manny would come up near the top.

[waroriole]

I bet if you did a poll of what player who was never an oriole would you definitely not want on this years team Manny would come up near the top.

I wonder what that poll would look like if we were talking about posters on OH.

[crawjo]

If you look at all the great hitters in history it appears that most of them came to the end of their careers rather suddenly and unexpectedly. It would not at all surprise me to find out Manny can't hit a lick any more. Hank Aaron went from a 1.000 OPS to a .687 in two years. The Babe's age 39 season was a .985 OPS, and he lasted 28 games into his age 40 season. Jimmy Foxx - .917 at 33, .686 rest of career. Mike Schmidt went from .936 and down ballot MVP votes to out of baseball in about 18 months. Cal had his highest single season OPS at 38, and was Cesar Izturis at 40.

If Manny comes back to play, I'm betting that he has something left. Call it intuition, whatever, I have a feeling that he thinks he has something to prove. I don't think he can be an everyday player, but a platoon DH who faces lefties? I can see him doing well in that kind of situation. Frankly I don't understand why so many people are anti-Manny. Well, I have my own theories, but I'll keep them to myself. "Drug user who often doesn't hustle" also describes Brian Roberts. My point not being that Brian Roberts is like Manny Ramirez or that Brian Roberts is a bad person, but rather that people determined to look for the bad in something will usually be able to find it.

[Can_of_corn]

If Manny comes back to play, I'm betting that he has something left. Call it intuition, whatever, I have a feeling that he thinks he has something to prove. I don't think he can be an everyday player, but a platoon DH who faces lefties? I can see him doing well in that kind of situation. Frankly I don't understand why so many people are anti-Manny. Well, I have my own theories, but I'll keep them to myself. "Drug user who often doesn't hustle" also describes Brian Roberts. My point not being that Brian Roberts is like Manny Ramirez or that Brian Roberts is a bad person, but rather that people determined to look for the bad in something will usually be able to find it.

How is it worth it for a team in the position the O's are in to carry a "platoon DH who faces lefties"? That doesn't seem like a bit of a specialized role for a team that is probably going to be in the top 3 in bullpen innings pitched? The Phillies have the starting pitching to have someone like Thome using up a roster spot, the O's don't.

I have no vendetta against Manny, I was out in the forefront calling Vlad finished last offseason.

If there is one thing that my time as an O's fan has taught me, it is to recognize when a batter is finished.

[El Gordo]

How is it worth it for a team in the position the O's are in to carry a "platoon DH who faces lefties"? That doesn't seem like a bit of a specialized role for a team that is probably going to be in the top 3 in bullpen innings pitched? The Phillies have the starting pitching to have someone like Thome using up a roster spot, the O's don't.

I have no vendetta against Manny, I was out in the forefront calling Vlad finished last offseason.

If there is one thing that my time as an O's fan has taught me, it is to recognize when a batter is finished.

Reimold doesn't hit lefties well, nor does Jones. or Betemit. Wieters won't be DH'ing that much and every time you put Reynolds at DH you are replacing his bat at 3B with a .700 OPS type guy. If you have some one to take 150-200 PA against LH SP who hits them wel,l your offense is much better. Hopefully that guy will be Miller who also is a good OF and baserunner.

[crawjo]

How is it worth it for a team in the position the O's are in to carry a "platoon DH who faces lefties"? That doesn't seem like a bit of a specialized role for a team that is probably going to be in the top 3 in bullpen innings pitched? The Phillies have the starting pitching to have someone like Thome using up a roster spot, the O's don't.

I have no vendetta against Manny, I was out in the forefront calling Vlad finished last offseason.

If there is one thing that my time as an O's fan has taught me, it is to recognize when a batter is finished.

As I've said elsewhere, I really think what Duquette is doing is trying to maximize the number of wins he can get from the current core without raising payroll. That means creating lots of organizational depth and creating lots of competition. Manny fits into that strategy. He won't be taking up a spot on the 25-man roster for the first 50 games due to his pending suspension, he won't be paid very much money, and so if he fails it's really not a big deal. This is more in line with the signing of Duchscherer last offseason than the poor comparisons people are making to Vlad or Sammy Sosa. In the case of Vlad and Sosa, those guys were being paid in a manner that they were expected to anchor the lineup. So when they failed it meant that the team suffered tremendously. But if Manny is just there for depth, then if he fails it's not going to be a great cost, just like Duchscherer's inability to be healthy did not cost the Orioles a tremendous amount. (And I would argue that Manny is more likely to be productive than the brittle Duchscherer was last year.)

But people on this thread saying that if the Orioles sign Ramirez to this kind of low-risk contract they will boycott the team, turn in their season tickets or hate the Orioles more than ever before is just a kind of animus that I don't understand. He's just a baseball player; it's not like he is Satan or Derek Jeter.

[Can_of_corn]

Reimold doesn't hit lefties well, nor does Jones. or Betemit. Wieters won't be DH'ing that much and every time you put Reynolds at DH you are replacing his bat at 3B with a .700 OPS type guy. If you have some one to take 150-200 PA against LH SP who hits them wel,l your offense is much better. Hopefully that guy will be Miller who also is a good OF and baserunner.

Exactly give the at bats to Miller who can do more then DH.

[Can_of_corn]

As I've said elsewhere, I really think what Duquette is doing is trying to maximize the number of wins he can get from the current core without raising payroll. That means creating lots of organizational depth and creating lots of competition. Manny fits into that strategy. He won't be taking up a spot on the 25-man roster for the first 50 games due to his pending suspension, he won't be paid very much money, and so if he fails it's really not a big deal. This is more in line with the signing of Duchscherer last offseason than the poor comparisons people are making to Vlad or Sammy Sosa. In the case of Vlad and Sosa, those guys were being paid in a manner that they were expected to anchor the lineup. So when they failed it meant that the team suffered tremendously. But if Manny is just there for depth, then if he fails it's not going to be a great cost, just like Duchscherer's inability to be healthy did not cost the Orioles a tremendous amount. (And I would argue that Manny is more likely to be productive than the brittle Duchscherer was last year.)

But people on this thread saying that if the Orioles sign Ramirez to this kind of low-risk contract they will boycott the team, turn in their season tickets or hate the Orioles more than ever before is just a kind of animus that I don't understand. He's just a baseball player; it's not like he is Satan or Derek Jeter.

How does having Manny eat up a roster spot win the O's more games then having someone that can pitch or play defense?

There is a reason the Rays only had to give him one million last offseason.