Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News offers this informatitive bit of information on the Manny Ramirez to the New York Yankees rumors:
One baseball official told the Daily News that the Yankees' interest in Ramirez is more than cursory, that they see the slugger as the perfect complement in their lineup to Alex Rodriguez, forming a 1-2 punch like he did in Boston with David Ortiz.The official believes that the Yankees are "going hard" after Ramirez, to the point where they are willing to give him a three-year deal worth from $22 million to $25 million per year.
Amongst the rationalizing for the legitmate interest in Manny by the Yankees is the delay in the Mike Cameron acquistion. If the Yankees are serious about Manny, the team will "need" the $10 MM of Cameron to help defray the cost of Manny's $20+ MM and would then need to keep Melky Cabrera to help as a late inning defensive replacement for CF Johnny Damon. (Who, by the way, recently admitted he is no longer a CF.) Not so sure I buy that given the Yankees have $48.5 MM of the $88MM that came off last season's payroll.
However, the analogy to the fearsome one-two punch of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in Boston has sparked the Yankee fan in me to begin dreaming.