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In a move that should come as a surprise to nobody, SI.com’s Jon Heyman is reporting that Manny Ramirez will exercise his $20 million player option for 2010.
Nobody in the Los Angeles Dodger organization should be surprised by this. This was a no-brainer decision for Ramirez. At the end of the day, Ramirez didn’t have any other options.
What was he going to do? Back out of his contract and test the free agent market?
No team was going to give him a multi-year deal, and no team was going to give him $20 million. Not after a year coming off a steroid suspension.
He had no choice but to exercise his option.
As for the Dodgers, this isn’t the worst move in the world. It’s not like the Detroit Tigers' situation, where they are going to pay Magglio Ordonez $18 million next year.
Despite having a down year by his standards, the Dodgers were still 59-40 with Ramirez in the lineup, and he is still a presence in the middle of their lineup.
His .949 OPS still ranked seventh amongst National League hitters.
If Ramirez left, who were the Dodgers going to get to replace him? If they wanted a Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, they would have to shell out a long-term contract to either of those two.
With the Dodgers’ ownership situation a mess, I don’t see them shelling out any long-term deals to anyone these days.
Even at 38 years old, Ramirez can still hit the value of his contract. The Dodgers will have one more year of Mannywood.
All things considered, it’s not the worst thing in the world.
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