Earn More Sessions By Sleeving

Much of the talk this off-season is obviously going to center around the status of Manny Ramirez. I had previously postulated that Manny stood the best chance of being traded this off-season, given that his contract only has two years left on it, with a relatively affordable $36-38 million. What I hadn't taken into account was that Manny has an agent. And these things are never ever that simple.

Apparently Manny's contract, even after the standard period runs out in 2008, has two team option years. I think it is not unreasonable to expect that any trade of Manny would have to include the other team picking up at least one of those two option years. It's not as if Manny will not have made enough money by that point, but by the time that contract has expired, that's pretty much the end of Manny's major earning potential. He'll kick around for a couple of years after that, doing a one-or-two year stint for a team at substantially reduced payment.

But why would the Red Sox or some other team agree to such a demand? Why would the Sox maybe have to pick up one of the option years and pay some other team $10-15 million to take Manny off our hands? Two words: TEN and FIVE. Manny has been a major-leaguer for more than ten years, and has spent at least the last five with the same team. This means that Manny can veto any potential trade. If the Sox want to trade him, which I believe that they still do, they need to meet all of his criteria, which means the right team and the right contract length. Who might be the right teams? Good question. I'd guess the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, and maybe a couple of others. If I had to bet on a potential winner, I'd bet the Angels. They're going to land either Manny or A-Rod this off-season, depending on who can alienate their teams and fan base more.

One more thought on this- I've come to a conclusion about next year's roster. Manny, Wily Mo, and Big Papi can't co-exist. Not that you can't have three gigantic Dominicans on the same team, but each of them is position-limited. Wily Mo can't play right field, not at Fenway, and neither can Manny. Ortiz is a DH, and occasionally a 1B. Wily Mo will only get enough at-bats to justify his presence on the roster by playing left field. I think he'd actually be ok in front of the monster. We're not getting rid of Ortiz. Coco's going to stay in center, or possibly shift to right field. What's the option? I think it's shipping Manny out.

My vision for the outfield next year is as follows: Wily Mo in left, Coco in center, Alfonso Soriano in right. Make it so.