There's a sucker born every minute, and Frank McCourt is counting on that so he can continue to fill Dodger Stadium.
This last week, McCourt played Dodgers fans and the baseball world for fools, ESPN buying into it with a crawl at the bottom of the screen and headlines on its website: "Dodgers make huge offer to retain Manny."
Foxsports.com called it a "monstrous offer" and Ken Rosenthal began his story, "Even if the Dodgers are unable to re-sign Manny Ramirez, no one will be able to accuse GM Ned Colletti of not trying."
My old broadcasting pal, Fred Roggin, said he had talked to McCourt and then commended McCourt for stepping to the plate presumably because he agreed to talk to him.
The Dodgers' website reported and continues to report the offer to Ramirez was "believed to be in the neighborhood of two years at $55 million," although most every other report had it closer to $45 million.
But whether it was knowing or unknowing exaggeration, promising words like huge and monstrous or misinformed commentary, McCourt got his message to season-ticket holders: "Look, I'm doing everything I can to bring back Manny."
If true, then maybe he ought to read his own website, Manager Joe Torre quoted as saying, "I think he'd like to come back, but I think he's at a point in his career where he wants some longevity, and I understand that."
Everyone in baseball knows Ramirez wants some longevity, so why did the Dodgers use their exclusive negotiating window with agent Scott Boras to make an offer they knew would be unacceptable? Just for show, of course, McCourt consistently mindful of image, going through more PR consultants than GMs and managers.
The only thing that should matter is that Ramirez means more to the Dodgers than any free agent means to any other team.
The Dodgers became relevant again, and only because of Ramirez. If you're going to make a franchise-changing/saving offer at a time when no one else can, the only offer made should be one so good it can't be turned down -- before anyone else gets the chance to enter the bidding.
The Angels covet Mark Teixeira and are in the same situation as the Dodgers with the same agent, but they haven't made an offer for Teixeira, or if they have, no one's heard about it.
We know about the Dodgers' offer because they wanted everyone to know about it even though they readily admitted Boras was probably going to wait and listen to others Nov. 14.
