LOS ANGELES – Manny Ramirez is now treated like Barry Bonds. His home crowd loves him, even if the rest of the country considers him an affront to sports.
You sense the opposition would rather throw the ball underhand to the other eight guys in the lineup than deliver a strike to Manny. And, like Bonds, on those rare occasions when a pitcher challenges Ramirez, he amazingly is not caught unprepared and hits the ball hard. In Philadelphia’s 7-5 Game 4 triumph, Ramirez was walked three times, yet was ready for the opportunity to deliver an RBI single and a to-the-gap double.
It was all rather Bonds-ian.
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And so, apparently, may be the strategy on how Scott Boras sells Ramirez this offseason to interested teams, perhaps including the Mets and Yankees.
The case, like that of Bonds, is that Ramirez has maintained greatness into his upper 30s, can carry a team, and despite questions of his makeup “pays for himself from a business standpoint” by selling tickets, adding TV viewers, moving merchandise and helping produce victories.
In other words, Boras is not offering apologies or discounts related to the unprofessional way in which Ramirez forced his way out of Boston. In true no-retreat, no-surrender Boras style, he is strongly hinting that he wants a six-year contract for Ramirez at top-of-the-market dollars.
“All I will tell you is, name me the player in recent times that has had the kind of season [Ramirez] has had this season and postseason,” Boras said yesterday during a conversation that lasted more than an hour.
“Put that together with two [championship] rings on his fingers, and the history he has, and that he is two years younger than Bonds when [Bonds] was a free agent. Bonds signed a five-year contract [for $90 million after the 2001 season] at 38 [he turned 38 midway through the first year of the deal] and got paid until he was 42.
“If Bonds gets five years at 38, what does Manny get at 36? If A-Rod gets paid to 42 [on his 10-year deal with the Yankees], why not Manny? He doesn’t take a backseat to him.”
Boras was the agent for Bonds and A-Rod at the time of those deals, and you can see how he is positioning Ramirez for this offseason. The most he will concede on the messy divorce from Boston was that Ramirez was uncomfortable in the environment and that “there were internal issues that were a concern.”
There is great anger in the industry over what amounted to a sit-down strike by Ramirez in Boston. If you can dial a phone, it is not all that difficult to reach team executives who say the malcontent antics went too far this year and will damage the number of teams and dollars Ramirez can expect this offseason. Boras has heard the buzz. He just dismisses it as rhetoric.
Boras’ reasoning essentially is: If Bonds could get five years when he refused to play for anyone at that time except San Francisco, and if Alex Rodriguez can get a 10-year deal after failing in yet another postseason, then why should Ramirez not be able to get a six-year deal to age 42? His reputation has been harmed, but he is still way more liked within his clubhouse than Bonds ever was; maybe A-Rod, too.
“Owners are going to look at the totality of circumstances,” Boras said. “Owners are going to look at his contribution, his performance, the economic growth of the franchise [while Manny was in Boston, now L.A.] and the rare ability to have in the fold a franchise player.”
The Red Sox won with Manny. Now he has almost single-handedly carried the Dodgers to the NLCS and been the central figure in a Southern California love-fest. It is this smiling, media-friendly, teammate-supporting, big-game monster version that Boras will attempt to sell. It will sicken most baseball fans and executives who want Manny punished for his ugly Boston exit.
But you learn not to bet against Boras in the offseason, not when he has Bonds to tie him to a precedent for getting Manny his money.