Hard to Get Behind This One

"On behalf of Manny Ramirez, we will, for the first time, begin accepting serious financial offers on Friday." Agent Scott Boras, Nov. 13, 2008

I have been with the players in every single labor negotiation and work stoppage in my baseball watching life. Even as a kid, the Reserve Clause always seemed downright un-American to me. (If that term is not familiar to you, every Major League baseball player's contract-until the mid-1970's-contained a clause that said, in essence, that if you signed this year's contract, you were granting your team the right to retain your services next year, in perpetuity. You were "Reserved" by the team that signed you. Forever. And with no recourse, you ultimately had no bargaining power, whatsoever. Curt Flood gave up his career to fight this monstrosity, God Bless him!)
I was with the players in the 1973 when they struck over the pension program. The lockouts in 1973 and 1976 were inconsequential to fans, as they occurred during Spring Training. I understood in 1980, when the season's start was delayed a week over free agent pay, and again in 1981, when the same issue took out the middle third of the season. 1985 was almost like a long weekend in August over salary arbitration, and the 1990 lockout was, again, early in Spring Training. 1994 was about the attempt to put in a salary cap and revenue sharing. Der Kommissar ultimately cancelled the World Series, which not even Hitler could manage, but I was still right there with the workers. Yes, by then, many of the players were millionaires, but it was now a choice between millionaires and billionaires, where it had been working men vs. billionaires in earlier instances. I am always for the guy with the smaller bank balance.
But now? Thank God it's not about a strike. If my buddy Bud gets credit for anything, it is moving through the last negotiation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement without strike or lockout. But it's getting harder-much, much harder-to hang with the players.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had offered Manny Ramirez a two year contract for $22.5 million per year, with a club option for a third that would have brought the total value to $60 million. To quote Lewis Black, I'm going to pause for a moment to let that sink in............
Manny took the Dodgers to the NLCS this year, for sure. But Manny will be 37 years old a third of the way into the 2009 season. He is unreliable at best, and a real problem at worst. In his prime, his focus could disappear for weeks at a time. And the Dodgers are in the National League, which means, of course, that he will have to play the outfield. Need I mention, that isn't Manny's best thing?
Scott Boras, spawn of Satan, didn't just turn down the Dodgers offer. He declared, per the quote above, that $60 million for a 37 year old, tantrum pitching, clubhouse killing, spoiled brat isn't even a serious offer. He presumably issued the press release with a straight face.
I love Manny. I still believe that a determined Ramirez in the middle of the Red Sox lineup would have meant a third World Series title in five years. But there is no defense for this demand.
I hope Frank McCourt doesn't raise his offer. I hope Artie Moreno says that he can't go higher than his cross-town rivals offered. I hope for some semblance of sanity to break upon Hal Steinbrenner just long enough to opt out of any higher bidding for Manny. They certainly shouldn't discuss things amongst themselves (can you say "collusion?"), but these men-well, McCourt and Moreno-didn't have things handed to them in life. They had to perform and demonstrate responsible judgement to acquire the fortunes that enabled them to buy the Dodgers and Angels, respectively. Use your judgement, boys. He's old. He's difficult. He's unreliable.
And he's not worth $60 million. He for darned sure ain't worth a dollar more!