Tag Archives: Manny Ramirez

Mopinion week two was as successful as week one in terms of responses so thank you to all who took part.  I promise next week there’ll be some sort of theme involved which could make it more interesting.

Three of this week’s questions involved Manny Ramirez who was reported to have a deal in place with the Los Angeles Angels O’ Anaheim, but as the team and Manny’s agent pointed out, that story wasn’t true.

The original story was in the Toronto Star by sports’ writer Mark Zwolinski and was apparently conceived of a Twitter message from a fake account.  Nice going, idiot, you just made all Canadian baseball writers look bad.

A couple things about this story tipped me (and others) off right away; it just didn’t add up.

1) The Star was the only media outlet in the continent to be reporting this story.  No one else, not a paper in Anaheim, L.A., Boston, Chicago, or any of the other myriad of places that would make plenty more sense reported that Manny had signed.

2) There was no source named besides the infamous Twitter Twit, which was quite obviously a fake account;  nothing from a PR rep for the Angels, nothing from Manny’s management team, nothing from a noted journalist who might have been in the area, nothing.

3) Neither the dollar amount, nor the team made much sense.  The Angels do not need another DH-type player with Mike Napoli, Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera already on the roster and the $4-million figure quoted in the story makes little sense.  I know Thome signed for $3-million, but it was rumoured he left much more on the table from the Rangers and other teams to stay in Minnesota and Ramirez is slightly younger and probably has as high a potential ceiling for 2010.  If Ramirez signed for anything less than $6-million I’d be very surprised.

And now to the results:

Question #1 asked: If you could have one Blue Jay sign an extension, who would it be?

I wagered in the post that I hoped the Jays’ wouldn’t sign Bautista to a long-term extension because it’s doubtful he maintains a high level of play for a number of years.  Still, I assumed most people would have selected Joey Bats as the one player they’d like to bring back on a long-term deal.

I was wrong.  Of the 25 voters, eleven (44%) chose Brandon Morrow, who, for the record, would also be my choice; having said that, I would like the Jays to wait until he has full season of sustained success before taking that plunge.

Seven voters took Travis Snider (28%), while only four voters (16%) thought Bautista should get the cash.  Two took Yunel Escobar (8%) and one voted “other”, although I’m not sure who it would be.  Surprisingly, not one took Brett Cecil.

Question #2 asked: Which team is most likely to sign Manny?

Despite my update that the original story was false just minutes after posting the question, 28% of the 25 voters think the Angels stand the best chance.  The leader was Toronto at 32%.  The Rays took home 20%, the Orioles 12% and two people voted for another team; assumedly Jon Heyman’s mystery team.  The Yankees, maybe?  I don’t know.  They give you a space to write an alternative answer in and then don’t show you the answer.

I believe that either the Rays or the Orioles have the best shot, with Toronto maybe sneaking in there to sign him.  Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulos hasn’t publicly stated any interest in Manny (which is team policy, I know), nor has there been any concrete rumours that Toronto and Manny are potential marriage partners.

The Rays may not want to deal with the inherent bullhonkey that goes with signing Manny, so my vote went to the Orioles who have the cash and seem like the type of team that brings in aging players to bump them to the 70-win mark instead of their traditional 60 wins.

Question #3 asked: How much does Manny sign for?

Jim Thome may bring the market down slightly, but I would guess not as much as people think.  To me, Manny signs for between $7-million and $9-million mostly because of how good he is when he’s on.  The majority of voters (56%) selected the $5-$7-million range, 28% selected the $3-5-million range and 16% were with me in the $7-million+ range.

Question #4 asked: How many homers does Manny tag in 2011?

40% think he’ll rebound to hit 21-25, 28% think he’ll be in the 16-20 range, 20% think 10-15 and there was one vote each for 0-9, 26-30, and 31+.  I think he’ll be somewhere in the low 20’s as long as he stays healthy all year.

Question #5 asked: Which pitcher switching teams this offseason has the best chance at winning the 2011 NL CY Young Award?

55.56% think Zack Greinke has the best shot while 37.04% think Cliff Lee has the best shot.  Two people voted for Marcum (probably extreme Jays’ fans), while there was no love for Matt Garza.  Based on talent alone, I think Greinke has the best chance, but given that Lee’s situation is a bit more favourable to the dreaded win column and he’s slightly more consistent, my vote has to go to him.