Manny Ramirez: Giants Could Use Him in More Ways Than One

Manny Ramirez is not your typical player. He is not even your typical human being. He is a class of his own; and that is OK, as long as you understand.

Still, if I am Bruce Bochy, I would tell the rest of the Giants executives that they need Manny. The Giants lost their last name player two years ago—Barry Bonds. Say what you will about him, but he was a name.

While, under normal circumstances, I think the Giants would like to develop in-house rather than keep up with others in the National League, I think it would be a mistake this time. This economy means that selling out 80 games a year at home will not be as easy as it once was. 

The best way to ensure tickets are sold is to field a competitive team. The second way is to have an all-star in the dugout who can bring attention to the team. 

Manny does both. 

The NL West is a graveyard of bad teams, so having one good player combined with a good starting rotation could allow the Giants to easily win the division.

Ramirez is still a top fielder as well as a hitter; he is not a washed up player at this stage in his career. While the Giants would have to overpay to get him, I suspect they could do so for a shorter time period than four years.

If the Giants offered Ramirez $20 million over two years as a base starting point, up from the offer rumored to be closer to the $16 million range, I think they could snag him.   

Plus, you also take away a player from the Dodgers, so it works out as addition by subtraction. Manny may be a distraction and a bit lazy at times, but there is no mistake that he is a focus point for a team.

Ramirez as a Dodger would ensure that the Giants would remain in the dog house while having a miserable 2009 season. While you can be a bad team and have a great player that people watch, you cannot be a bad team who has no one.

While one could argue that Tim Lincecum appears to be one of the next great starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, no one at this point will come to the ball park just because he is there. 

Look at the Toronto Blue Jays—one good pitcher, no stars outside of Doc Halliday, and no one really watches them. It is not a recipe for winning in the box office or the box scores.