A Manny of updates...

Wow, what a week!!! It's been exactly 7 days since the Giants have been linked to Manny Ramirez. 8 days ago Manny's options seemed to be the Dodgers and, umm...hmmm...well, the Dodgers (maybe the Yankee's). Lets do a quick recap and figure out where we are...

Dec. 29- Jason Stark reported that THE DODGERS contacted Adam Dunn's agent.
Dec. 29- Ken Gurnick later added THE DODGERS were contacting Bobby Abreu's agent.
Dec. 30- Bill Shakin reports Scott Boras has called the Dodgers to talk about Manny.
Dec. 31- Ken Gurnick is now reporting Ned Colletti and Scott Boras are set to talk all things Manny.
Jan. 1- Troy Renck dropped a very small snippet in his column in the Denver Post. Last sentence to be exact. "The Giants, the NL West's most active team this winter, are quietly making an aggressive play for free agent Manny Ramirez, according to a major-league source." We can and have broken this sentence down in detail over the last week, and will continue to until he signs somewhere, but for now, to quote Bruce Willis "just the fax mam, just the fax".
Jan. 1- Henry Schulman is skeptical. It would have to be "very specific financial conditions."
Jan. 1- Jon Heyman thinks the Giants could be a huge threat to the Dodgers.
Jan. 2- Joel Sherman weighs in, Manny makes sense to the Giants for many reasons.
Jan. 2- Dennis O'Donnell says the Giants offered Manny a 4 year deal!
Jan. 2- Chris Haft writes the team downplays any offer to Manny.
Jan. 2- Henry Schulman can neither confirm nor deny the offer, but says at some point the Dodgers offered and had turned down a 3/$60 offer.
Jan. 2- OK, Henry Schulman finally got it. No offer has been made, but the Giants and Boras are speaking.
Jan. 3- Henry Schulman doesn't think this is just Scott Boras trying to drive Manny's price up.
Jan. 3- Ray Ratto thinks seems to be leery that Boras is using the Giants to drive up the price. giants will wait until corner OF market is "more clearly defined."
Jan. 3- Buster Olney finally weighs in. Says Rival GM's have serious doubts the Giants are serious.
Jan. 4- Jon Perrotto says the Giants are considering two offers now, 4/$100 deal based around a vesting and club option and 3/$63 without options.
Jan. 4- El Lefty Malo doesn't think the Giants have any shot at Manny based off Perrotto's outlook.
Jan. 4- T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers are not pursuing Manny.
Jan. 5- John Heyman says the Rangers "are considering a pursuit."
Jan. 5- Tim Brown thinks the Dodgers are holding firm and so is Boras.
Jan. 6- Ken Rosenthal states the most recent talks between Boras and the Dodgers were uneventful. But does think the Dodgers are "still the most logical fit."
Jan. 6- Jason Stark sites many "sources" as the Giants just can't afford Manny Ramirez, calling previous reports Baloney.
Jan. 6- Brian Sabean,in an interview with Rob Dibble and Jody MacDonald on XM175, said No offer has been made yet, have talked in parameters, are monitoring the situation, it would have to be a perfect fit money wise, not what they are looking for but he is "such a profound middle of the order hitter. Which we need."
Jan. 7- Henry Schulman responds to Jason Starks previous article, saying the Giants CAN afford Manny offering a Truth and Baloney segment (a must read as this is probably the single best assessment of where the Giants stand).
Jan. 7- And finally, Grant at McCovey Chronicles gave a very amusing play by play of events on a fictional day in the life of the Manny to the Giants drama. Funny thing is, it's not that far from the truth. Check it out.

So where does this leave us, lets condense even further...

The Dodgers want Dunn, then Abreu, Boras Calls Ned, Ned and Scott talk, some dude in Denver(?) says the Giants are hot after Manny (again ?), everyone in Giants land starts seeing visions of sugar plums and playoffs dancing in their dreams, A Giants beat writer is skeptical, a NY beat writer says it makes sense, the Giants offered 4 years, no they didn't but the dodgers did and were refused, Lefty thinks we have a shot, the Rangers are out, the Rangers are in, Scott and Ned are in a stare down, the Giants can't afford Manny, the Giants can afford Manny...

As far as I can tell, the only thing concrete about all of this is Manny is still a free agent, The Giants have a need, possibly the money, and the Agent may be using them...oh yeah, and somehow I have this sudden urge to grow deadlocks and root for another Power hitting left fielder with baggage! Shit, I didn't see that one coming.

And all this while Andrew Baggerly is in New Zealand. Check out his last sentence in his last blog, "And if Manny Ramirez becomes a Giant while I’m abroad … well, I just might stay in New Zealand!" This was Jan. 1, before the first report came out...

No offense Baggs, but I'm kinda leaning toward you staying in New Zealand a while.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...