Will Manny Ramirez retire after 2010?

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez looks on from the dugout after the Dodgers lost Game 5 of the National League Championship baseball series 10-4 to the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

AP

After noting the dearth of contract offers after 2008, and the utter lack of leverage he had with respect to his opt-out clause after last season, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times wonders whether 2010 will be Manny’s swan song:

This might well be the last season of Ramirez’s career. If he wants to play for relative peanuts next year, maybe he finds a job. But given the absence of a market for Ramirez over the last two winters as well as the suspension and the decline in his production last season, who’s to say he even gets a contract offer?

The dynamic Shaikin describes regarding Manny’s last two offseasons has not been about finding him employment, it’s been about optimizing his position among the richest of the rich contracts out there. Of course he didn’t get multiple offers these past two winters: his fallback was in the $20 million range, and there are only a couple of clubs who ever venture in that territory, none of which needed a guy like Ramirez these past two years.

But the winter of 2010-11 is going to be an entirely different animal for Ramirez, and while I’ve taken my whacks at Scott Boras recently, he’s no dummy. Unless Manny puts up an MVP-caliber season, he’ll probably be looking for a DH or left field job paying him less than eight figures. And unless he utterly falls off a cliff this season, he should get no small amount of interest in that price range.