Manny Ramirez: A's Making a Mistake Chasing Aging Slugger

The next episode of "Manny Being Manny" could take place where nobody will be watching.

There's a report out from ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com on Friday that the Oakland Athletics are "very interested" in free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez.

The site reported last week that the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays have also kicked the tires on Manny, and they even went so far as to take a look at him at an indoor batting cage.

"The Orioles and Blue Jays saw Manny work and Baltimore liked what it saw, but Oakland has been the team that has expressed the most interest, even before having him work out," said a source.

Makes sense. Manny is a perfect Moneyball player, as he gets on base and hits for power. He owns a career OPS of 0.996, ninth best on the all-time list. He's just the kind of player Billy Beane covets.

However, we also know that Manny is going to have to serve a 50-game suspension once he signs a contract with a team. That's what he gets for testing positive for a banned substance for a second time in 2011.

So if the A's do sign Manny, they would only be getting him for 112 games. Given what we know about Manny, they would probably be paying for fewer than 100 games when all is said and done.

If they think his production would be worth it, they better think again. It wouldn't be.

Manny's career numbers aren't what the A's or anybody else should be focused on. They should be focused on what Manny looked like when we last saw him every early on in the 2011 season with the Tampa Bay Rays. He was a shell of himself, totally incapable of making solid contact, and he managed just one hit in 17 at-bats.

That Manny was this bad did not come as a surprise, as he didn't hit much after being traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2010. He so just happened to go from being bad to being very bad.

I'm trying to think of reasons why things would be any different in 2012, but I'm drawing a blank. Yes, Manny has taken a year off, but we're talking about a guy who didn't play much in 2009 or 2010 to begin with, so it's not like he walked away in 2011 with an excess of wear and tear on his body.

So the A's should do themselves a favor and get real. Manny's over the hill and he can't hit. Even if he can be had on the cheap, what would be the point?

The only good thing that would come from signing Manny is that he would put fans in seats. The A's could use a player like that, of course, as they finished dead last in the majors in attendance in 2011. 

But if that's the only motivation the A's have for signing Manny, Moneyball clearly isn't what it used to be.