Now that John Farrell has officially been named the new manager of the Blue Jays, the focus obviously shifts to wondering whether or not Manny Ramirez will join him. Wait, what?
Ramirez, never shy about selling himself for his next job in baseball, spoke with ESPN Deportes shortly after Farrell's introductory press conference on Monday, making it clear that "Farrell is a manager for whom I would like to play."
"John has tremendous knowledge of the game, a very pleasant man and he trains ballplayers," Ramirez said in a telephone interview with ESPNdeportes.com from his Miami home.
"Toronto has made a great acquisition. Farrell is a manager for whom I would like to play, and Toronto is a team I've liked since they had all those Dominican players in the '80s," Ramirez continued.
Farrell and Manny were together in Boston in 2007 and most of 2008, before the Red Sox traded Ramirez to the Dodgers.
Ramirez, who spent the 2010 season playing just 90 games split between the Dodgers and White Sox, becomes a free agent after the World Series. He hit nine home runs while slugging .460 with a 138 OPS+ this year. His playing time was limited because of knee and groin injuries, but says, "I still have a lot of baseball left in me," admitting that his role would likely be reserved to just a designated hitter.