9:26pm: MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick suggests that the "signings this week of Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn will be the trigger to bring the Dodgers and Ramirez toward a middle ground."
Gurnick also shares this quote from Giants president Larry Baer, implying that his club is sitting idle on the Manny front: "Nothing’s really changed from our perspective."
4:40pm: Ken Rosenthal offers thoughts on the Dodgers and Manny, as well as Hudson.
3:50pm: Not sure if this qualifies as news, but Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times learned that Ramirez cancelled a promotional appearance because he could sign a contract at any time.
8:48am: Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times has the latest on Manny Ramirez today. Talks continue with the Dodgers, but there’s nothing new to report.
Some had speculated that Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn were the Dodgers’ backup plan, but Ned Colletti and Scott Boras are both claiming the signings don’t affect the Manny negotiations.
How many teams are in on Ramirez? From Shaikin’s article:
Boras said the other day that he was negotiating with "several" teams for Ramirez. We asked him whether "several" could be defined as "more than two." He chuckled. "Two or more," he said.
Shaikin adds that Orlando Hudson "called the Dodgers, not the other way around." Signing Hudson would mean shuffling around Blake DeWitt and/or Casey Blake. Ken Davidoff of Newsday notes that the Dodgers have pretty much run out of ways to "reallocate their Manny resources."
