Your Move, Manny Boras

And we're not just talking about Connect Four Round 6. Manny Ramirez, $25M a year, either two or three years in duration. The second-highest salary in baseball. And everyone knows about it now...

From espn:

"We said, 'Think about it for a while. It's not going to be there forever,'" Colletti said. "Things are always subject to change, and it depends on what else we do, to some extent. I've been asked a few times here if we're going to wait to see what happens with this before we do anything else. But I'm not sure we're going to have the luxury to do that. If there's something else that comes about that we feel we need to do, and the timeliness is there to do it, we'll have to do it."

When the Dodgers were eliminated from the playoffs last month, Ramirez expressed a desire to test the market.

"I want to see who is the highest bidder. Gas is up and so am I," he said then.

Gas prices have gone down sharply since then, his agent, Scott Boras, joked Wednesday.

"I believe that was a prognostication that was of a 24-hour period," Boras said. "Manny's stock career was short-lived."

Ramirez is 36, and the length of the contract could become as issue. Boras is said to be seeking a lengthy deal.

And from the LA Times:

Boras has said at the general managers' meetings in Dana Point this week that Ramirez deserved a six-year contract that would pay him until he is 42.

It remains unclear whether this is an earnest bid by the Dodgers to re-sign the player who took them to their first National League Championship Series in two decades, or a half-hearted attempt to appease fans who became enamored with the dreadlocked slugger.

Colletti said he understood that Ramirez probably wouldn't sign before the Dodgers' exclusive negotiating window with him expires Nov. 13.

It is also unclear what kind of market exists for Ramirez. Philadelphia Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said his team could use a power-hitting left fielder but that Ramirez was probably too expensive. San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean said his team almost certainly wouldn't pursue him. New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said that while he liked Ramirez, his top priority is to acquire pitching.

Noting that the Dodgers' attendance and revenue increased and they made the playoffs after they acquired Ramirez on July 31, Boras argued that the player showed he could "pay for himself."

Colletti disputed such a notion, as did San Diego Padres Chief Executive Officer Sandy Alderson, who used to work in the commissioner's office.

"I will say that the one guy recently that has paid for himself has been Manny Ramirez, by virtue of the fact that the Dodgers paid nothing," Alderson said.

The $7 million that remained on Ramirez's deal at the time of the trade was paid for by his former team, the Boston Red Sox. Ramirez's last contract was for eight years and $160 million.