Boras needs friction to generate heat, so he will float tales of interest in his clients to get the other teams to up their bids. Think the Dodgers aren’t concerned that the Giants are allegedly offering 3yrs plus option for Manny? Boras certainly wouldn’t be above trying to pit Moreno against McCourt to drive up the bids as well. Which LA team will grab the headlines by signing Manny—this is the sort of question which causes the Cubs and White Sox, Yankees and Mets, and Giants and As to make sure the other team doesn’t get more media coverage.

As for the Angels, I suppose this is like a guy who is tempted to date a woman he knows will hurt him and take all his money in the end, but she’s so damn cute… Intellectually, the Angels know what Manny would mean to their offense, especially with the DH slot to place him in so that he causes minimal damage to the defense, a luxury not possible with Papi on the roster in Boston.

But the negatives have already been cataloged—I think Manny has poisoned the well with his antics in Boston last year, the salary would bend the salary expectations of Lackey and Vlad for their own deals, and the well-covered glut of OF candidates would place an insane amount of payroll in the OF/DH category.

keep in mind Andruw Jones is getting his full 2009 salary in the restructured deal. The only difference is that some of it is deferred, so that McCourt has some payroll money freed up now to use on another player. In no way is Jones getting less than every dollar in his contract; there is no way the Players Association would allow that to happen.

But you’re 100% correct that it is better to hope for production from GMJ in 2009, rather than DFA-ing him and paying the remaining $33M on his contract while he signs a minimum salary deal with another team.

I’m not defending him being on the team and certainly never will. I hated the signing from the beginning. What I am saying is that releasing him provides no value, whereas, making him the world’s highest paid right-handed pinch hitter/defensive replacement at least gets something back for what we are required to pay him.

but Bill Stoneman would’ve made a horrible Linda Lovelace and GMJ a most “limp” Harry Reems.