7:01pm: Hernandez has a quote from Boras:
"Obviously, he enjoys L.A.," Boras said. "If he went into the marketplace, the real negative was that he could end up playing in a place he wasn't comfortable playing."
6:19pm: Dylan Hernandez of The LA Times tweets that according to agent Scott Boras, Manny Ramirez will return to the Dodgers next year. Technically, Manny signed a two-year deal last offseason, but he has the ability to opt out of the 2010 portion of his contract within five days after the World Series. He would forfeit $20MM by doing so.
The 37-year-old Ramirez had a tale of two seasons in 2009. He hit .348/.492/.641 in the team's first 29 games, but "just" .269/.389/.492 after returning from a 50-game banned substance suspension. ESPN's Keith Law said that Manny showed the "the loss of bat speed" at the end of the season, and didn't think that any team should invest $20MM in him for 2010.
