Manny Ramirez’s Major League Baseball career was thought to have ended around 2011 after he left the Tampa Bay Rays five games into the season to avoid his second suspension for violating the league's PEDS policy.
Since then, he’s been plodding along as a member of the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s EDA Rhinos and he’s still swinging those dreads like he swung a Louisville Slugger. In 206 plate appearances against second-rate competition, the 41-year-old slugger batted .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBI this season before leaving after the club a few days ago. Last season, Oakland gave him a shot with their Triple-A affiliate, but Ramirez requested his release 17 games into the season despite batting .302. Nod your head if you’re beginning to notice a pattern.
Anyways, according to Ramirez’s agent, Manny has interest in a MLB comeback.
Via FoxSports.com:
“The reason he decided not to return for the second half was to free himself to be available to play in the United States,” Barry Praver, Ramirez’s agent, told FOXSports.com Wednesday. “This whole thing with Manny in Taiwan was a phenomenon. He invigorated the league. Attendance went through the roof. It was a very positive experience for both sides.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t have picked a more detrimental method to begin his comeback attempt. Nobody’s going to invite an aging, eccentric personality who is a liability in the outfield into their clubhouse after he’s abandoned his last three clubs high and dry mid-season. Now he’s alienated himself from his club in China without getting any assurances of an offer from a club. That's just Manny being Manny.
