Manny needs to start being Manny, play some baseball

According to ESPN.com, Albert Pujols is encouraging the St. Louis Cardinals to sign future Hall of Fame slugger Manny Ramirez. While there has been no other sign of communication between Ramirez and the Cardinals front office, the prospect of adding arguably the scariest hitter last season into the line up with arguably the scariest hitter ever is certainly raising some eye brows.

The article says that Pujols speaks to Manny a few times a week on the phone, and the two of them cannot figure out why Ramirez can’t get a deal anywhere.

The answer to that conundrum is simple, unfortunately Manny is too busy being Manny to figure it out. It’s your agent buddy. The truth is that Scott Boras (Ramirez’s agent) refuses to come to terms with a slowing economy as he continues to try and push the market bigger and bigger. So while younger stars like C.C Sabathia and Mark Teixeira can still get mega-deals, teams (who aren’t wearing pinstripes) are being sensible about signing a 36-year-old outfielder with baggage.

His talent, and even his work ethic are unquestionable. His desire to play into his 40’s, be a leader in the clubhouse, and whether or not he knows where he is the majority of the time is. But with that uncertainty there is one unquestionable truth:

If Manny Ramirez dumped Scott Boras, lowered his asking price to 2 years for 40 million dollars, he would be on a team tomorrow.

It’s amazing what green (money, not the herb) colored glasses will do to ball players. It seems so simple for us fans and executives, yet it’s so hard for the players to understand. Yes Scott Boras will demand more money, but no, teams won’t want to deal with him. The players must think we can’t understand what it’s like to turn down all that money to play baseball. Maybe that is why it took Warren Buffet in the summer of 2008 to convince A-Rod to drop Boras, the only person Mr. A-rrogant would listen to is the richest man in the world.

Manny needs to pull back his deadlocks and see the light. It’s February and he has no team. No one has budged to bite the bullet and sign him to a contract the think is unfair, in fact the Dodgers retracted their first offer. The Mets are showing no interest, the Yankees are spent, and the Red Sox are off limits. The Cardinals are an intriguing option but do they really have that kind of money? It’s time for Manny to suck it up, take 40 million dollars, and go play some baseball. It’s what he was born to do.

Manny in Washington?

At first glance that question may seem ludicrous, especially in bold. Why would the Nationals sign an old outfielder who has no leadership ability to a big deal?

Well…because we can. If you loyal readers remember I was adamantly against the Mark Teixeira deal. Not because I didn’t like his talent, or because I didn’t think we needed a 20 million dollar a deal player on the roster, but because I didn’t like the length of the contract. Don’t pay for fan excitement now if it will hurt the team when they’re ready to compete.

Ramirez however is different. He will likely only play three or four more years, and will be out of town by the time the team is competitive. In the mean time he will provide excitement with his bat, his fielding (not necessarily positively, but it will be exciting!) and his antics. This would not be a move for our future, but one to hold us until we get there.

It will also give Nats fans a little bit of history and a little something to be proud about when Ramirez gets inducted on his first ballot into the Hall of Fame. Not to mention he will be closing in on 600 homers in the not so distant future, what better a place than Nationals Park?

So Mr. Bowden, go ahead and let Manny distract us while you prepare the future. Let Manny come into our clubhouse and show young players how you really prepare for a season and game. Show Ryan Zimmerman what it’s like to see a fastball when he hits in front of one of the best hitters of all time. And let Manny remind Nationals fans what a feared hitter looks like wearing a curly w.

“I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later.”-Mitch Hedberg

Changes may mean good news for the Nationals

A new trend appears to be rising in major league baseball. An odd one, and surprising one. For the last 15 years major league baseball has been a game of dollars and cents, well at least dollars, lots and lots of dollars. The teams with the most money have dominated the standings as they sweep up all the talent with unbelievable contracts and take a lot of the pride out of smaller market teams. It seems though, that we may be seeing a change.

In the past the best young players of the game would come into the league and play out their rookie contract, usually earning no more then 500K a year, with a large bonus of course. At the age of 24 or 25 when their options were out, they would sign a 2 or 3 year, sizeable contract, to assure they would stay with the team that developed them and raised them. After their first big contract was up, they would enter the free agent market, a talented and accomplished player between the ages of 26-28, ready to sign a whopper of a deal.

Derek Jeter signed an 11 year 189 million dollar contract at the age of 27. Manny Ramirez signed an 8 year 160 million dollar deal at the age of 28. At the age of 27 Todd Helton signed an 11 year 151 million dollar contract, and the biggest one of all, Alex Rodriguez, signed a 10 year 262 million dollar contract at the age of 26.

Ridiculous amounts of money sure. It was good for the players; they made big time long term deals and didn’t really have to earn it. Players like Mike Hampton, Danny Neagle, Kevin Brown, and Adrian Beltre have never come close to matching the expectations promised with the signing of their deals. It was good for the big market teams regardless of the flops however. The small teams did the lay work, the scouting, the drafting, and dealt with the growing pains, while the big teams snatched them up with super contracts and won championships.

This season however has seen a huge and confusing change. The youngest stars of the games are signing long term deals, for lower amounts of money earlier on. Today Ryan Braun, who recorded possibly the best rookie season ever last year, signed an 8 year 45 million dollar contract before he finished his second full major league season. The numbers are staggering; at the age of only 23 last year Braun hit .324 with 34 homers in only 113 games. The potential contract for Braun three to four years down the line would be huge, even Alex Rodriguez like, yet with his new contract he promises not to be a free agent until the age of 31, and legitimately could be missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars.

Braun isn’t alone. Hanley Ramirez, arguably a greater talent then Braun signed a six year 70 million dollar contract, making him a free agent at 30 and a Marlin for six more years. Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who last year made a huge splash as in their playoff run, singed a 6 year 31 million dollar contract this year as well. Perhaps most surprisingly Tampa Bay prospect Evan Longoria, before even playing a week in the majors, was locked up in the sunshine state for six years at 45 million dollars. It seems the brightest stars of tomorrow are already locked in with low market teams for a good part of the next 10 years.

While nothing is certain yet, this appears to be a good thing for baseball. The smaller markets will no longer have to try to compete in an uphill battle for the players, they won’t have a mere 2 or 3 year window to win with the talent they have developed, and maybe the balance of power will even out. My question however, is what does this mean for the Washington Nationals who have yet to sign up their young star, Ryan Zimmerman.

Zimmerman renewed his contract this season for relatively the same amount he made last year, for about half a million dollars. Will the Nats be smart like the other small market teams and sign Zimmerman up for a long term deal and an undervalued contract? It seems to me they have a rather good bargaining point. Zimmerman is of course a great young player who is the center point of this franchise, but lets be honest he is not playing well. His numbers have never matched that of Ryan Braun or even Troy Tulowitzki, so his contract logically certainly should not exceed theirs. It seems that this has been a touchy subject the Nats just want to put on the shelf until the end of the season, but I think for the best future of the franchise, the Nats should try and get Zimmerman a new deal along the parameters of his peers.