When the 2010 season was approaching its finish the Sox were in contention to unseat the Twins as champions of the AL Central. It was felt that a little extra pop was needed and Kenny Williams worked a deal to acquire Manny Ramirez from the Dodgers. Manny, coming off of a lackluster return from a first PED suspension put up an odd batting line in which he reached base to the tune of a .420 OBP with a punchless .319 SLG. Needless to say, Manny and the rest of the September 2010 White Sox came up short, seeing the losing end of the all too familiar late season divisional opponent sweep(s). That was it for Manny in a White Sox uniform. He began 2011 with the Rays, collected one hit and then went ahead and failed another drug test. Rather than serve his 100 game suspension, Manny elected to retire. The story never really ends when Manny is involved though, it wasn’t long before he was asking for reinstatement. Now, reinstatement is what he’s got.
Manny has agreed to a contract Monday with the Oakland Athletics which is worth 500K once he reaches the majors. If everything goes as scheduled, he’ll be eligible to play against the Royals on June 2nd. I like watching Manny play baseball and I love watching Manny hit but I wasn’t prepared to give him a shot at redemption on my team. This is only Fukudome money we’re talking about but I must say I’m glad to have signed Kosuke and not ManRam.