Manny Ramirez likes Blue Jays

Updated: October 25, 2010, 8:42 PM ET

By Enrique Rojas | ESPNdeportes.com

ORLANDO, Fla. -- With Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell about to take over as manager of the Blue Jays, soon-to-be free agent Manny Ramirez praised the hiring and listed Toronto as a possible landing spot.

"John has tremendous knowledge of the game, a very pleasant man and he trains ballplayers," Ramirez said in a telephone interview with ESPNdeportes.com from his Miami home.

Ramirez

"Toronto has made a great acquisition. Farrell is a manager for whom I would like to play, and Toronto is a team I've liked since they had all those Dominican players in the '80s," Ramirez continued.

Farrell, 48, has been the Red Sox pitching coach since 2007, when the team won its second championship in four years with Ramirez in the heart of the order.

Ramirez, 38, will be a free agent after the World Series. He batted .298 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs in 2010 while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox in a season in which he was limited to 265 at-bats due to injuries. He had issues with his right knee and suffered a hernia in his left groin which required surgery two weeks ago.

Ramirez had groin problems most of the season, but he opted to wait until it was over to have surgery.

"I never was at 100 percent, but I didn't want to stop playing," Ramirez said.

"The doctors told me not to do any baseball-related work for six weeks, which means I will wait until mid-November to begin my winter workouts."

In 18 seasons in the majors, Ramirez has a .313 average with 555 homers and 1,830 runs batted in. The 12-time All-Star believes that playing as a designated hitter in the American League could extend his career a little more.

"I still have a lot of baseball left in me. I think that I can still bat if I keep myself healthy, and it is less probable to have an injury playing as the designated hitter," Ramirez said.

Enrique Rojas is a reporter and columnist for ESPNdeportes.com