Dodgers are on the Manny Ramirez clock

Even when there’s no hard news, there’s news in Mannywood.

Scott Boras, who represents Manny Ramirez, isn’t saying how much money his client will actually demand as a free agent this winter. Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt and General Manager Ned Colletti aren’t saying how much they’ll offer Ramirez or when they’ll make him an offer.

As of Thursday night, Boras and the Dodgers hadn’t discussed Ramirez’s future. But news is leaking out, as it tends to at this time of the year. Call it the pre-negotiation, agents and

teams using the press to exchange messages and set some parameters for when they open formal talks.

The latest headline item came in a story by SI.com’s Jon Heyman, who cited “people familiar with the club's thinking” to report that the Dodgers wanted to offer Ramirez a deal that would come close to matching Alex Rodriguez’s record annual average salary of $27.5 million but over a shorter period, perhaps only two years.

ESPN’s Buster Olney countered by citing his own sources, who told him that the Dodgers have had "no conversations either internally or externally, about money" with any of their many free agents, which would include Ramirez.

McCourt spoke to 710 KSPN-AM this morning, saying that while he wants to re-sign Ramirez the slugger is “entitled to go where he wants.”

A lot of this is posturing, of course. Dollar figures and contract lengths that are loosely based in reality are being tossed around, the most recent estimates figuring Ramirez will ask for more than $20 million per season over five or six years. There will be more of this in the coming weeks, some of it true, some of it half-true, and some of it completely untrue, as the first major event of Ramirez’s free agency is fast approaching.

The Dodgers are on the clock.

Over the next three weeks or so, the Dodgers will have to make their first strategic decision on the matter, which is whether to offer him a contract in the 15-day window that starts the day after the end of the World Series. Only they can negotiate with him during that period.

What they’ll be forced to decide, in essence, is whether to set the market for Ramirez or let other teams do that.

If the Dodgers offer him a deal, whatever it is, Ramirez is unlikely to accept that on the spot. Boras will almost certainly use that offer as leverage when talking to other teams, making the Dodgers his pawn, at least until he has completed his research into what else is out there. If any team isn’t scared off by the Dodgers’ offer and pursue Ramirez, there could be a bidding war. The Dodgers would be driving up their own price.

For the Dodgers, the ideal situation would be for them not to make an offer, at least not a substantial one, and for Ramirez not to find much on the open market and crawl back to them. But that tactic is risky and could result in a public relations nightmare. Philadelphia could use Ramirez. So could the two New York teams. American League teams could offer Ramirez longer deals, as the DH could provide refuge for his 36-year-old knees. If the Dodgers don’t act quickly and boldly, and Ramirez signs elsewhere, McCourt and Colletti will be maligned for not acting with enough urgency.

Boras’ aura will undoubtedly affect the process.

The Dodgers are wary of baseball’s most powerful agent, enough so that they didn’t make an in-season approach to Boras client Derek Lowe about a contract extension. Predictably, McCourt and Colletti are mum on how they’ll appoach Boras and Ramirez.

Asked on Thursday if there was a plan in place -– not what the plan was, mind you, but simply if a plan existed -– Colletti declined to comment.

(Jon Weisman on the Dodger Thoughts website offers his own handy set of caveats.)

-- Dylan Hernandez

Top photo: Manny Ramirez at bat against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the NLCS last week. Credit: Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

Inset: Scott Boras. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[kpc]

To respond in Manny's terms: Gas is going up and so am I. Well, Gas is going down and so is the economy - and so is Manny's $.

[Stewart Smith]

How great would it be if nobody signed Manny??!!
That goes for every other greedy,self absorbed big leaguer and theirtroll acting agents!!
I think there comes a point where when does somebody need that much money??
Who is playing the game??
The man or the ego??

[Jim Good]

Here I sit in bean town with a ? in my head wondering if Manny gets big money will he just sit back and collect his money, like he did in Boston. Jim

[Evert]

I am a lifelong Redsox fan and would offer words of caution to my friends on the West Coast. Manny is a great player when he feels like it. During the last two months of this season he felt like it. He turned it on as soon as he left Boston and played great. Next year when he does'nt feel like it, he will be dogging it again. If you sign him to a contract, keep it short, the longer the term of the contract, the sooner he won't feel like it.

[Thad]

If Pete Rose is tossed from baseball for gambling, why is any team offering Manny anything for what he has pulled at first Cleveland and then Boston. That any team would offer him a contract after he and Scott B tanked it at those locations, Manny should be tossed out of baseball. To slack off from using your talents and not doing your best is a cardinal sin. And to brag about it. If Manny can play then Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose should be fully reinstated. Who is the cheat??? What has happened with the investigation of Boras??????? Unbelievable that someone like Manny would add to the greed. I for one is so glad he is out of Boston--NO CLASS-NO CLASS- NO- CLASS.

[Sherla]

I was always a Manny fan but after what he did at Boston he can go back home and stay. I was so dissapointed on his actions at Boston. The Red Sox are to classy a team to have him around.

[BossToolGuy]

Totally agree with Thad, Pete was wrong, but never jeopardized the outcome of a game, Manny does it repeatedly, either by not playing or halfassing it. He not only should be gone but banned, as Pete has from ever entering the H of F. Maybe then he could reflect on his behavior and see what any 9 year old clearly sees.