The Jake

I know, I know, nicknames are a dime a dozen. But since Manny Ramirez decided to jake it when he was still with the Bosox last year, he gets the new tag.

A timeline of sorts - Before last year, Manny has a home in Boston. Like a lot of relationships, it's love/hate. But he helps bring two World Championships to the faithful. Fast forward to 2008. Manny dumps his agent and signs with Boras (the Slimy). Prior to that, The Jake had two option years left with Boston at about $20M per. And he was beloved in Beantown. Could do no wrong. But Boras, no doubt figuring that he gets nada unless he gets MR a new contract, has to have an angle. No accusations, but all of a sudden, Ramirez starts loafing and sitting and genuinely becomes a giant PITA. All in an effort to get traded and void the options. And it worked. He moves to LALA land, wears #99, and goes on a tear in August through the end of the season, into the NLDS and NLCS. Wow. The cha-ching going off in his and his agent's heads must have been easy to hear.

So now we are a week or so into 2009 Spring Training, and a guy who may be the most fearsome right-handed hitter of his generation is without a team or a contract. And the news is that he turned down the Dodgers latest offer for two years - what?

As in are you waiting for. The mystery team maybe. Does anyone still fall for that one? So the moral to this story - nobody wants the Jake. Play hard. All the time.