Oh, Manny

Things are finally beginning to shape out. After Raul Ibanez signed a somewhat ludicrous contract well before the glut of corner outfielders felt the constraints of the current economy, first hand, some of these cards have been drawn. Bobby Abreu signed for 1-yr/$5 mil with the Angels. Adam Dunn signed for 2-yr/$20 mil with the Nationals. Compared to the 3-yr/$31.5 mil contract handed to Ibanez, and, in a vacuum, the former two signings are relative steals.

As Dave pointed out yesterday, however, both create issues for their respective teams and lineups. One aspect of their signings not yet touched on is what it means for the remaining corner outfielders on the market, primarily Manny Ramirez. Manny has already turned down deals worth 2-yr/$45 mil and 1-yr/$25 mil, both offered from the Dodgers, who seem to be his only suitor.

The Giants reportedly had interest in the services of ManRam, but their 4-yr/$100 mil rumored deal proved fictitious or exaggerated at best. And the Giants may spend a good portion of what they have left on Joe Crede. The Mets are out. The Angels, another potential suitor, filled a void that probably didn’t exist by signing Abreu. The Nats, who had plenty to spend, inked Dunn. Realistically, Manny has one team really interested in what he brings to the table, a team that has to date offered him two contracts defying what we have generally seen in the market, in Manny’s favor.

For a while, plenty of analysts suggested that Manny would dictate what happened to Dunn, Abreu, Griffey and Garret. Realistically, the deals inked by both Abreu and Dunn not only lower the bar even further for Griffey and Garret, but hurt Manny’s leverage. With potentially interested teams filling needs elsewhere, Ramirez will have to sign with the Dodgers if he wants to play baseball next year, unless some other team swoops in out of nowhere and snatches him up.

Either way, this has certainly been the craziest free agent market I can remember in my years of baseball fandom. We have a player seeking an extremely lucrative deal in a depressed market from a team that has no competition for his services. Then again, Scott Boras, the best agent of all time, represents Manny, so don’t be surprised if he actually does coax the Dodgers for a surplus of funds.