It’s been all quiet on the Manny front since the slugger asked for his release from a minor league contract with the A’s in June. Rather than trying to find another job, he took his bat and went home to Florida, and he’s been pretty much unheard from since.
USA TODAY’s Jorge L. Ortiz managed to track Ramirez down this week and talk to him at his home outside of Miami. He found a Ramirez more interested in God than getting back into baseball.
“I feel good. My family’s good,” Ramirez said. “Thanks to God, I have a peace I’d never had. I have an incredible peace.”
Today marks the first anniversary of Ramirez’s arrest and battery charge following a domestic disturbance involving his wife, Juliana. The charge was later dropped due to Juliana’s lack of cooperation, and husband and wife are currently living together with their two sons. Ramirez is still working out and hitting in a cage, but being a father is taking precedent for now.
“Sometimes I miss [baseball],” Ramirez said, “but I try to fill that void by taking my kids to their basketball games, their baseball games, taking them everywhere.”
Ramirez has no plans to go play in the Dominican Republic this winter. He hasn’t ruled out another comeback next year, but it sure does sound like he’s finished.