Recent reports have the Oakland Athletics interested in Manny Ramirez as a possible DH option in 2012. According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the A's will make a final decision in the coming week whether or not to officially try and sign the slugger. They have been checking out his workouts and some reports indicate the A's are among the finalists for his services, along with Toronto and Baltimore. Of course, if they haven't officially decided to sign him, I am curious how they were already finalists. Maybe it's just another Manny being Manny moment?
Grant Brisbee put together an interesting piece about the A's reported pursuits of Manny Ramirez and Magglio Ordonez. The most pertinent part, in my mind, is the issue of blocking other players. If the A's are engaging some kind of rebuilding strategy, it would make a lot more sense for the team to see what guys like Brandon Allen, Chris Carter, Michael Taylor and Kila Ka'aihue can do at the Major League level. In a season where the odds are slim that this team will be any good, is a Manny Ramirez or Magglio Ordonez worth the opportunity cost of not giving one of the prospects a chance?