Dodgers' pitch to Manny a bad one

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Where Manny Ramirez ends up is anyone's guess.On the surface, there don't appear to be very many "good fits" for a player who is expecting one the game's highest salaries and a long-term deal, prefers a city with a sizeable Latino community, doesn't want suffocating attention from fans, and, despite his accessibility in Los Angeles, has never really liked inquisitive media members lingering around his locker.Of course, if you're like me, you're assuming the only "fit" that really matters to Team Manny-Scott Boras is the highest bidder.All the other quality-of-life stuff, Ramirez will simply deal with in his own quirky way, like he always has. As for the Dodgers, if they do end up with him -- and I think it's still a long shot -- it will be the same way they got him in the first place. By default. Because he had nowhere else to go.The Dodgers already are off to a terribly awkward start. Pressured by frenzied fans to make some kind of bid before other teams could, the Dodgers reportedly offered him two years guaranteed and $45 million. The only real guarantee was that Boras would reject it, since he'd already said the 36-year-old Ramirez wanted a six-year deal. Frankly, it's ludicrous that Ramirez should command more per year than the $20 million he earned annually from Boston over eight years during the absolute prime portion of his career. Unfortunately for the rest of baseball, though, the Dodgers may have created an inflated standard -- around $22 or $23 million -- with their lazy, on-deck-circle swing. There was no way Boras would have accepted anything from the Dodgers without testing the bigger market anyway. Now the team figures to wait for the bidding to fall flat. Like it did for Boras' man Alex Rodriguez last winter. The Dodgers' best hope may be that Manny really did like LA, and he asks them to match the best offer. But don't expect Ramirez-Boras to leave a nickel on a table anywhere. The report that Ramirez almost got suspended in Boston before the trade to the Dodgers would have been blockbuster news in July. Four months later it's like learning that Rush Limbaugh voted Republican. Typically, there is lots of offseason angst among Dodgers fans, with a sense of desperation over Ramirez dominating the mood. Likewise, the Angels have accomplished nothing so far, but -- is it me? -- it seems so tranquil in Anaheim. Maybe it's because the Angels always seem to know what they're doing. (Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)