Today's links were cobbled together while wondering how many other would-be employees are turning down $45 million right about now. …
• Thursday night's news release from the Dodgers:
LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers today received a letter from Scott Boras, the agent for Manny Ramirez, rejecting the offer that the club made yesterday. This rejection is the fourth by the agent in the club's attempts to sign Manny."We love Manny Ramirez," said Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, "And we want Manny back, but we feel we are negotiating against ourselves. When his agent finds those 'serious offers' from other clubs, we'll be happy to re-start the negotiations.
"Even with an economy that has substantially eroded since last November, out of respect for Manny and his talents, we actually improved our offer.
"So now, we start from scratch."
Raise your hand if you thought we'd still be talking about this at the dawn of March. … Yeah, me neither. Let me repeat that the Dodgers have reportedly offered Ramirez $45 million when he's worth -- at most -- something like $40 million, and they've also offered him the chance to go after more money next winter if he thinks he can find it elsewhere. Maybe they'll go higher. But they probably shouldn't.
• Dave Cameron adds a small-but-important piece to the BABiP puzzle.
• The latest stirring news from Nationals Land.
• Wezen-ball appreciates Baseball-Reference.com … and puts his money where his appreciation is.
• I can't claim to have read everything Joel Sherman has written about steroids. But every time I do read him, he's spot-on.
• Like me, ShysterBall wonders why the Mantle family gives a tinker's damn about one lousy profane baseball.
• I guess this is old news now, but last week Jim Caple and I wrote about the movies.
• And speaking of the movies, Gwyneth Paltrow really is better than you (and me, too).
Update: Now we learn that the Dodgers' most recent offer apparently included deferred money. A lot of deferred money. Which changes the tenor of this discussion. A lot.
Rob Neyer
