On Saturday, Manny Ramirez returned from the disabled list - his third trip of the season. And now that he's back on the playing field, it should only be a matter of time until he ends up on the waiver list, says Buster Olney.
The expectation around baseball is that outfielder Manny Ramirez will be placed on waivers early this week, according to baseball sources.
Ramirez was not placed on waivers on Monday, but it should happen soon. And once it does, that's when things should get interesting. With the Dodgers eight games out of the Wild Card, they have little left to play for, and little reason to hang on to a troubled star nearing free agency. And while Ramirez is 38 years old and showing signs of physical fragility, he's still slugged .508 on the season with a .912 OPS over 223 trips to the plate, so he's both expendable for the Dodgers and potentially desirable for a contender with a need for a stick.
What that means is that Ramirez could easily end up getting claimed, with possibilities including the Rays and White Sox. And in the event of a claim, the Dodgers wouldn't have any reason to pull Manny back.
Working in favor of a Ramirez waiver claim is that, while he still has more than $4 million left on his 2010 salary, three-quarters of that is deferred. Possibly working against a Ramirez waiver claim is that he has a full no-trade clause, meaning he could block any and every move. It's unknown whether he would, or whether he'd request compensation in return for waiving his NTC.
Stay tuned to this StoryStream, and to True Blue LA, for more as the Manny Ramirez situation develops. As Olney writes:
But baseball sources say there remains a high probability that ... Ramirez ... will be with another team by Aug. 31.