At a Tuesday press conference to re-introduce Oliver Perez as a member of the Mets, Omar Minaya was predictably asked if the team would sign Manny Ramirez. Minaya didn't go crazy and say "No chance in hell would I sign that dreadlocked malingerer," but he made it very clear that it wasn't in the cards.
Minaya said that there would be no more big moves by the Mets in free agency because all of his priorities have been met. If they do make any moves, it will be for bench players. He was asked if he'd sign Ramirez for the league minimum, which got a good laugh, especially since Scott Boras was in the building representing Perez.
That's about what you'd expect, but still a bit surprising after the news that Ramirez turned down a one-year, $25 million offer from the Dodgers on Monday. Because Boras represents Perez, it wasn't hard to connect a few dots and think that he and the Mets may have discussed the possibility of Manny coming to Queens. There's no way it would have been for that much money, but it seemed plausible that a multi-year deal with less money per year could have been discussed.
Now, you've really got to wonder what Boras has up his sleeve. The Dodger offer represented both a raise and a chance to hit the free agent market a year from now. The only other teams that have been discussed as options are the Giants and Nationals. The Nats would offer Ramirez only the opportunity to make money, because they aren't equipped to contend for a playoff spot. The Giants, on the other hand, have a strong pitching staff, but little pop in the lineup.
Ramirez would help take care of that problem, and the NL West is a winnable division if the Giants improve their offense. They were in the mix, briefly, for CC Sabathia, so they may be willing to spend the money necessary to land Ramirez. If you had to place a bet, San Francisco might be the horse to back in the Manny race.
Unless Manny is worried about what Joe Torre might write about him down the line, it's not as good a horse as the one they turned down in L.A., though.
