Will Manny Return to New England?
There hasn’t been much happening since Varitek was signed, and I’m in a bit of a foul mood. The Super Bowl was a decent enough game, but gee, they’d be a lot more fun to watch if teams that I hate would stop winning them. It’s going to be a long week with more snow and more low temperatures, and I’m just about ready for this Global Warming bullshit to start taking effect.
Anyway, there was one news tidbit that caught my eye: a team has finally given Manny Ramirez a contract offer. Yes, the Worcester Tornados of the Can-Am League have offered Manny a contract worth $24,000 for 2009. There’s no word yet on whether Manny will accept a 99.8% pay cut to move from Los Angeles to picturesque Worcester, so I’ll assume he’s mulling it over.
This is obviously a joke, but it actually got me thinking: what type of numbers would Manny produce if he decided to sit out of MLB for a year and play 1 season of independent minor league ball? Remember, the Can-Am League is low-level even by independent league standards. After a cursory glance at the rosters, I could only find one ex-major leaguer of note: Rich Garces. Compare this to the Atlantic League, which has had the likes of Rickey Henderson, Stephen Drew, and John Rocker pass through. So, we’ll assume that Manny would aim high and play in the Atlantic League.
One of the best hitters in the Atlantic League last year was a guy playing for the Long Island Ducks, a guy by the name of Carl Everett. Yes, the same guy. Jurassic Carl (a nickname which has little to do with his age) hit .327 with 29 HRs and 100 RBI last year for the Ducks. In his final MLB season in 2006, a 35-year-old Everett struggled to a .227/.297/.360 line in Seattle. Now, let’s look at Manny’s MLB performance last year: .332/.430/.604. He was one of the best hitters in all of baseball in two separate environments. Oh, and he’s a year younger than Carl Everett.
Hypothetically speaking, if Manny were to sign a 1-year deal with the Bridgeport Bluefish…I think his season would look something like this:
475 at bats, 68 home runs, .431/.596/.892, 183 runs batted in.
He’d be a butcher in the field, though.
