Deal with White Sox will end Mannywood era
By
Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports
1 hour, 31 minutes ago
Manny Ramirez(notes) likely has seen his final day in a
Los Angeles Dodgers uniform.
The club has determined it will move Ramirez to the
Chicago White Sox, either by granting the White Sox’s waiver claim of last week or trading him, according to sources.
Manny Ramirez argues a called strike with home plate umpire, Gary Cederstrom, who ejects Ramirez in the sixth inning against the Rockies on Sunday.
(AP Photo/ Matt McClain)
In order to facilitate a trade, Ramirez would have to waive the no-trade provision in his contract. He is due about $4 million for the remainder of the season, money the White Sox are willing to assume.
Ramirez’s final plate appearance for the Dodgers will be, like most everything he did in Los Angeles, memorable. Pinch-hitting Sunday afternoon in Colorado with the bases loaded, Ramirez saw one pitch. He believed it to be ball one. It was called strike one.
Ramirez was ejected from the game arguing his point, leaving the at-bat and a critical moment for someone else.
(
Reed Johnson(notes), batting in place of Ramirez and starting his at-bat in an 0-and-1 count, grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Dodgers lost, 10-5.)
In an odd weekend in which the Dodgers measured Ramirez’s achy calf, Coors Field’s expansive outfield, the White Sox’s waiver claim and their own diminishing playoff hopes, Ramirez was given 1½ at-bats. Manager Joe Torre opted for
Scott Podsednik(notes) instead.
Unable – or unwilling – to push the Dodgers any further, Ramirez returns to the American League and a White Sox team trying to keep pace in the AL Central. Losers Sunday, they have won two series since early August and are 4½ games behind the
Minnesota Twins.
Details of the Ramirez exchange are still being determined.
While Ramirez helped drive the Dodgers to consecutive National League championship series, he has been far less productive since his drug suspension last season. In 66 games this season, fractured by three trips to the disabled list, Ramirez batted .311 with eight home runs and 40 RBIs. Presumably, he’ll be the everyday designated-hitter for the White Sox, who begin a 10-game road trip through Cleveland, Boston and Detroit on Monday.
Ramirez returned to Boston with the Dodgers earlier this season and received a mostly mixed reaction.