Will the Manny watch include the Mets?
Posted: Friday, December 12, 2008 7:31 PM
Unfinished business after the winter meetings:
THE MANNY RAMIREZ SHOW. With CC Sabathia having said yes to the Yankees, Ramirez is now the premier unsigned free agent, yet the market for his services bears no resemblance to that experienced by Sabathia.
That being the case, Ramirez’s agent, Scott Boras, is starting to sound a bit desperate, telling Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti the five-year deal Barry Bonds signed with the Giants in the winter of 2002 is a template for a Ramirez-Dodgers deal. Colletti was the Giants assistant general manager at the time of that Bonds deal. He knows that contract was about a player and a team who needed each other. But he also knows that deal was about Boras saving face after the Giants extended a four-year offer into a five-year deal (what Boras was seeking) but they did so with a club option to void the fifth year if Bonds failed to meet certain performance standards. And Colletti told the Los Angeles Times that while the Dodgers want Ramirez back and are willing to pay him big bucks they are not willing to commit to four or five years.
Yet everyone knows the Dodgers need Ramirez more than any other team. And Ramirez probably needs the Dodgers, he’s liked in the clubhouse and revered by the fans. There doesn't appear to be a better match – unless the Mets enter the fray. They still need a power corner outfield bat and they open a new ballpark in April with the need to sell high-priced tickets, suites and sponsorships. Ramirez can help them do that and they are a franchise with the ability to pay the slugger.
This week the Mets said they were willing to entertain re-signing free agent Pedro Martinez, a close friend of Ramirez. Then today the Phillies signed Raul Ibanez, whom the Mets had an interest in. Throw those developments into a pot and there may be a stew that involves the Mets getting in the Ramirez derby.
But for all teams this winter the mantra appears to be consistent -- it's not the dollars that can’t be had, it's the years. That's what Colletti is telling Boras. The Dodgers are willing to pay Ramirez a ton of dough but not for the long term. Most agents gauge their value, as well as their own compensation, on the length of contract.
This standoff between Boras and any Ramirez suitors will likely last beyond the New Year and could stretch into the start of spring training. Boras could reason his best play is the waiting game, figuring there will be a team left with a searing offensive need after Mark Teixeira signs and so do the top wave of corner outfielders/designated hitters (Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Milton Bradley, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr.). But it is hard to envision any team willing to break from the pack and offer Ramirez the kind of deal Bonds got in 2002.
THE JAKE PEAVY SHOW. Why is it so hard to trade a 27-year-old Cy Young Award winner with a fixed contract cost for the next four years? Because Peavy's no-trade clause has severely limited the field of teams he would agree to play for. With the Padres and Cubs unable to swing a deal, it appears Peavy has two choices: 1) Expand the field of teams to which he would accept a trade or 2) return to a downtrodden Padres team. Reports in San Francisco are that Peavy's agent has already let it be known that the pitcher would consider a trade to the Giants where he would be reunited with manager Bruce Bochy.
THE RAFAEL FURCAL SHOW. Maybe he wins after all. It's been hard to understand this saga except there does seem to be more demand for a shortstop/leadoff hitter than in recent years. So Furcal can turn down Oakland only to see the A's come back to negotiate some more. Kansas City, still looking for legitimacy, enters the fray. Furcal wanted to get back to Atlanta but that appears unlikely. We hear a decision is due this weekend from the player so ask yourself which team needs Furcal more than anyone else? The Dodgers, just like they do Ramirez.
THE YANKEES' SHOW. CC Sabathia is in the fold, ditto A.J. Burnett and Mike Cameron is in their sights. The Yankees have one mission -- to win the World Series in 2009. The unrestrained Marlins president, David Samson, exclaimed that the Yankees were spending like "drunken sailors," a remark for which he apologized. More composed executives are unanimous in their acceptance of today's reality: What the Yankees want, they can buy. Five years for Burnett is absurd yet starters are valued more highly each year and the Yankees are poised to run out a rotation of Sabathia, Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and either Andy Pettitte or Phil Hughes. Game on in the AL East.
THE RED SOX AND RAYS SEEK ANSWERS TO THE YANKEES’ MOVES. What do these teams do this offseason? Does Boston go all in for Mark Teixeira, the bat it badly needs to anchor the post-Manny Ramirez era? Tampa Bay has tweaked but where does it go for the DH bat that is a must to fill out its lineup?
THE CLOSERS -- PART 2. Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz are Mets and Kerry Wood appears ticketed for Cleveland. Yet Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman as well as Jason Isringhausen and Brandon Lyon are still available and the pool of teams in need could grow if the Dodgers sever ties with Takashi Saito. St. Louis and Milwaukee are actively shopping while Oakland, Florida and both Los Angeles teams have to decide whether to find their finishers from within. A question this blog will explore next week: Given the shape of this market for players, why would anyone choose to be a reliever?
QUICK SWINGS:
1. BALTIMORE HAS CLEARED…the deck for one of the most anticipated rookies of 2009. Matt Wieters should be the starting catcher at Camden Yards by midseason after veteran Ramon Hernandez was dealt to Cincinnati. In return the Orioles get an energy guy and leader by example in Ryan Freel.
2. METS GENERAL MANAGER OMAR MINAYA…struck twice at the winter meetings for the team’s bullpen. Signing Francisco Rodriguez was move No. 1. Move No. 2 was the three-team trade (between New York, Seattle and Cleveland) that brought the Mets J.J. Putz and really only cost them Aaron Heilman. If any player needed to leave the Mets it was Heilman after the untenable booing he endured this past season at Shea Stadium. Heilman is a pitcher who desperately wants to move from the bullpen to the rotation. Nothing else the Mets surrendered in the deal is crucial to their championship hopes. From Cleveland Seattle gets a strong defensive outfielder in Franklin Gutierrez.
3. MIKE CAMERON…would be a fabulous get for the Yankees. Assuming the new Yankee Stadium is of similar dimensions to the old, Cameron's Golden Glove defense in center field would take pressure off the team’s corner outfielders (Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher).
4. COLE HAMELS…calls the Mets "choke artists" in an interview with WFAN radio in New York. In 47 years of existence, the Mets have never developed a true rivalry. Nothing could equal the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry but the Mets have never planted the seeds for a good long-term intense rivalry. Have Jimmy Rollins and Hamels now done their part for a Mets-Phillies rivalry to finally take on full blown intensity?
5. GIANTS GENERAL MANAGER BRIAN SABEAN…exploded at the San Francisco media and I completely understand. The San Francisco Chronicle was insanely optimistic over a possible CC Sabathia-Giants marriage. But that optimism was never based in reality. Any sane person knew that Sabathia's bidding started at the level of the Johan Santana deal of last offseason with the Mets plus "x". Or, in other words, the Yankees first bid to Sabathia of $140 million.
Any hope of Sabathia signing for a "discount" was hallucinogenic -- the players union would never agree to that. But for a few days the Giants were unfairly saddled with expectations from a fan base beaten down by four straight losing seasons. Sabean's rant (check sfgate.com/chronicle for full stories) hit some hot spots, namely the present-day often-toxic mix of internet and talk radio-fueled rumor with reality. Toss in the fact that Sabean has a new boss and enters his contract year, and his reaction is totally understandable.
