We’re into February and no one has taken a flyer on free agent Manny Ramirez. Yesterday Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles are the two teams “most interested” in Ramirez. However, Rosenthal added that their level of interest remains “unclear” as it’s unknown if either has actually extended Manny a contract offer.
Ramirez was reinstated by Major league Baseball in December. The league not only allowed Ramirez back into the fold, but it decided to reduce Manny’s ban for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs from 100 games to 50.
Even so, the market for Ramirez has been extremely slow to develop; think herd of snails traveling through peanut butter.
April 6, 2011; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Manny Ramirez (24) reacts after he hit a pop fly for an out during the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Tropicana Field. The Los Angeles Angels defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE
To entice teams to give him yet another shot, Ramirez has taken to the phones and reportedly reached out to clubs during the Winter Meetings. Manny has also held work outs for clubs.
This is how the Orioles first became involved with the Ramirez rumors, when it was reported that they and the Toronto Blue Jays sent scouts to watch Manny hit in an outdoor cage in early January.
Since then, not much has come out regarding Ramirez. With several other DH options holding far less baggage than Manny saturating the market, it seems likely that the best Ramirez will do this winter is receive an invite to Spring Training.
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Blaine joined the crew in April of 2011. He covers current news and notes from around the baseball world for Call to the Pen.
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