Manny Ramirez Set To Split From The Dodgers

This off season, most of the talk about a break up in Los Angeles was concerning the divorce of Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt but, on his first day at Spring Training, Manny Ramirez didn't want to be left out and announced one of his own. Ramirez, who will turn 38 in May, is in the last year of a 2 year $45 million contract he signed in March last year and he made it clear that he does not expect to play for the Dodgers in 2011 or beyond when he was quoted as saying “I know I'm not going to be here next year”. Whether that means he knows another $20 million pay check from LA is highly unlikely next year on a team having no need for basically a full time DH. Or maybe he just can’t keep his mouth closed.







The initial Ramirez deal was one of the better ones of the McCourt ownership, when he was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in a three team deal in return for a minor league pitcher and a bench player, as he rocketed the Dodgers into the playoffs, hitting .396 over 53 games and .420 in October. The second deal was not so good with the Dodgers seemingly bidding against themselves to secure his services last season where he only hit .290, the third lowest since he became a regular starter for Cleveland in 1995. It’s not as if his 50 match ban provided any recuperation time as he hit .255 after his enforced break and .218 after September 1.

If this is his last season in Los Angeles then the Dodgers will hope they don't have a repeat of the Andruw Jones disaster. Jones was in the first year of a 2 year $36 million deal when he turned up 20 pounds overweight to Spring Training and by July he was benched, he finished the year with a .158 average and was released at the end of the year with the Dodgers still paying back the second year of the contract.

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Ramirez also noted in his talk with the press that he weighed in at 235 pounds, up from the 200 pounds the Dodgers listed him as last year. Maybe we’re going to see Andruw Jones V2.0, or maybe Manny's fertility drugs finally paid off and he managed to conceive after all that trying.