Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes the Giants are willing to offer Manny Ramirez a two-year guarantee, maybe. Scott Boras is looking for a four-year guarantee with a vesting fith year option. Gernerously, Boras has offered to backload the deal for the Giants.
New to the equation, but old for Boras' case, is a new television network partly owned by the San Francisco Giants. Boras is looking for a piece of the expected revenue to be considered as resulting from Manny Ramirez' presence on the team. It is plausible.
*
The San Diego Padres signed 2B/OF Chris Burke yesterday. This is noteworthy because the Padres can offer Burke what he has been unable to receive in his stints with the Houston Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks - a better shot at full-time ABs.
One could argue Burke's .194 AVG last season doesn't merit any ABs, I prefer to focus on the 27 walks in 165 ABs, though. Incumbent 2B Edgar Gonzalez was a great mid-season recall, but his plate discipline is not nearly as good. While I enjoy the human interest story of Edgar getting his break at 30 and getting to play with his little brother Adrian, I can't ignore the chances of Edgar Gonzalez seeing more balls in play turning into outs.
Given Burkes' batting eye, a simple improvement in his AVG coupled with a deproved one of Edgar Gonzalez puts Burke in the everyday line-up.