hit submit too soon as my post is typo hell

“apparently not even the Giants have the resources to spite the Dodgers”

among other goofs

They may still have some battles that they can win, but they are getting half the years and less than half the dollars they were hoping for. The Dodgers, I suspect, will end up spending less on Ramirez than what they originally thought it would take on Nov 1.

I still think that Ramirez will sign with the Dodgers, but, ultimately, the final contract will have been more in the favor of the Dodgers than Ramirez. Now from here on out since the bar has been set so low, Manny may actually be able to raise it and he could claim some sort of victory, but all in all, he has lost.

Manny’s a great player. However, he is not indispensible. I think many players already have that wake-up call — those like Ivan Rodriguez, who are sitting home, or those like Orlando Cabrera and Bobby Abreu, who took deals for far less than they thought they’d get.

Maybe a message has to be sent. Let Manny play in Japan for a year.

I can tell you that there is this stupid “Manny factor” that you have to pay him a certain amount or you run the risk that he will be disruptive to your ball club. In other words, just matching him the highest available deal and telling him “take it or leave it” doesn’t fly with this ego-maniac.

Does Manny really think that his childish and threatening attitude will work in this economic climate? I think McCourt should drop his offer by $5/year and tell Manny it drops another $5 million every week. They should also have tough language on behavior and if Manny or the union don’t like it, let him sit out this year. Need we remember how he stomped his way out of Boston last year (after he pushed & choked a Red Sox exec a few weeks earlier)? Does anyone heed a guy like that on their ball club?

One of the reasons I posted this thread is because of the following-

An acquaintance of mine who lives very nearby to me has been a sportwriter in LA for close to 40 years, He knows everybody and everybody knows him. He is close to many sources in the Dodgher organization, all good. Since this blog is now regularly linked to CNN/SI I’m not naming names because I’m not allowed.

Frank McCourt is thisclose, not “this close” but “thisclose” to telling Boras and Ramirez to take a hike and find another team. He and Colletti have already spoken, and it’s possible we could see someone like Dye in a Dodger uniform before too long. It has come down to ego, a battle of wills, principle, all that, with McCourt. He is TIRED of Boras and Boras’ games. Not everyone in the Dodger organization is happy with this, but McCourt owns the team. This is not to say Ramirez won’t be signed, but right now, as in 12:15 p.m. Pacific time, that’s where things stand. The signing of Hudson was the first step towards that possible outcome. Moreover, McCourt’s remarks about “starting from scratch” are a manifestation of his attitude as well, plus the possibility as a counterproposal he offers LESS, which would be just to flip Boras the finger. We’ll see what happens.