Speculation Focuses on Ramírez’s Future
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By JACK CURRY
The New York Times
December 5, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. — Jim Leyland had difficulty finding the right elevator when he arrived here in the morning, but he had no trouble homing in on one of the major questions of baseball’s winter meetings in the afternoon.
When Leyland, the Detroit Tigers’ manager, spotted three reporters, including one who covers the Boston Red Sox, he quizzed them about a topic looming over this off-season. The question seems to pop up almost every year.
“Did Manny get traded?” Leyland said, not needing to add a surname.
Not yet, Leyland was told. Nothing had happened with Manny Ramírez in the opening hours of the four-day meetings at the Walt Disney World Dolphin hotel. But, as managers, general managers, scouts, agents, reporters and at least one owner gathered around the hotel, Ramírez’s fuzzy future was being discussed.
Of course, there is a chance that Ramírez will not budge. Theo Epstein, the Red Sox’ general manager, said Boston would have a better idea about the trading landscape by Wednesday night.
Epstein stressed that the Red Sox would not unload Ramírez for inferior talent.
“Our position in the past is that we’re not going to trade an elite position player without getting fair value,” Epstein said. “That’s still the dynamic now.”
The Red Sox have had conversations with the Dodgers, the Angels, San Francisco, Seattle and San Diego about Ramírez, who has two years and about $38 million left on his eight-year, $160 million contract.
Ramírez has asked to be traded multiple times, and the Red Sox, who are weary of the goofy behavior that accompanies his booming bat, are apparently trying to accommodate him.
If the Red Sox cannot move Ramírez, they can tell him their efforts were futile and hope that it mollifies him.
Although the Red Sox have spoken to several teams about Ramírez, they have not contacted the Mets to gauge their potential interest. The Mets signed Moises Alou to a one-year, $8.5 million deal, and he is expected to be their starting left fielder next season.
Still, if the Red Sox wanted to exhaust every option to get the sweetest package for Ramírez, it would be logical to call the Mets.
General Manager Omar Minaya has tried to obtain Ramírez in the past. If the Red Sox were close to trading Ramírez, Alou’s presence would probably not be enough of an impediment to prevent them from checking with the Mets.
“I’ve been down that road before,” Minaya said about Ramírez. The Red Sox are also trying to complete a deal for outfielder J. D. Drew that could average $14 million a year, and they are making progress in their negotiations with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Matsuzaka has told his agent, Scott Boras, that he does not want to return to Japan.
The Red Sox bid $51.1 million to gain the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka, and they do not want to pay him the $11 million or $12 million a year that Boras thinks Matsuzaka deserves as an ace pitcher. The Red Sox feel that the price that they posted to the Seibu Lions has to be factored into Matsuzaka’s potential salary.
The going, going, almost gone aspect of Ramírez’s relationship with the Red Sox started more than three years ago. The Red Sox placed Ramírez on irrevocable waivers Oct. 29, 2003, meaning any team could have acquired him by assuming the five years and nearly $100 million left on his contract.
When the Red Sox made that surprising move, they were clearly hoping that the Yankees would be compelled to claim him. The Yankees are one of the only teams that could decide, within 72 hours, to add a $20 million-a-year player. Ramírez, who is from the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, said in 2003 that he wanted to finish his career with the Yankees, a remark that infuriated Red Sox executives.
After no one claimed Ramírez, the Red Sox reached an agreement to ship him to the Texas Rangers for Alex Rodriguez, but the players union did not allow the deal. Three years, one World Series title and endless headaches later, Ramírez’s status with the Red Sox is uncertain again. Tim Wakefield, a Red Sox pitcher who was here to have dinner with John Farrell, Boston’s new pitching coach, seemed immune to what might happen with his longtime teammate.
“I don’t know anything,” Wakefield said. “In the off-season, I don’t read the newspapers.”
INSIDE PITCH
Brian Sabean, the San Francisco general manager, said the Giants remained interested in re-signing Barry Bonds. “Does it make baseball sense? Yes,” Sabean said. Other than the Giants, there does not seem to be much of a market for Bonds, who has 734 career homers. ... Chris Carpenter, the National League’s 2005 Cy Young award winner, signed a five-year deal for about $65 million to stay with the St. Louis Cardinals. Carpenter was 15-8 with a 3.09 earned run average for the World Series champions last season. ... Outfielder José Guillén, who played for the Washington Nationals last season, signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Seattle Mariners. He will be playing with his eighth team in a career that began in 1997. |
