ShareThisLos Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti continued discussions with agent Scott Boras on Wednesday, one day after Boras appeared to have issued a warning to the team regarding its attempts to re-sign Manny Ramirez.
The two sides did agree on something.
"Restated the respective positions," Colletti said in a text message. "We agreed to continue to stay in touch these next few days."
Late Tuesday, Boras indicated Ramirez might not be signed by the start of spring training and made clear that he was not about to give in to the Dodgers after rejecting their one-year, $25 million offer to Ramirez.
"What I do know, you better watch out when you're playing chicken," Boras told Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports.
Asked if it felt like a game of chicken, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said, "Not to me. We're trying to sign a ballplayer and do what's best for our team."
McCourt spoke to reporters at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles on the Dodgers Community Caravan and also to at least one patient who wore a Manny Ramirez No. 99 shirt.
"I feel that what happened this past season in terms of the incredible embrace that the Dodgers fans gave Manny, in terms of the fun and excitement he provided the fans, I think that's very rare in sports for it to happen as quickly it happened and at the level it happened.
"It was really quite a phenomenon, and one would think that a player would enjoy that. I would think that he enjoyed his time here, and that he'd want to be here. I certainly hope that's the case, but it's a question better directed to Manny himself because it's his decision."
The Dodgers are the only team that has publicly made an offer to Ramirez, who batted .410 with 21 home runs and 63 RBI in 61 games, including the playoffs. He was acquired July 31 in a three-way trade with Boston and Pittsburgh.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
