Reporting from Peoria, Ariz. — The Dodgers' negotiations with Manny Ramirez have progressed to the point where owner Frank McCourt has scheduled a face-to-face meeting with the All-Star outfielder on Wednesday, according to baseball sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal isn't finalized. Ramirez flew from Miami to Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
McCourt had a day-long meeting with Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, and they have agreed on the general parameters of a contract: two years at $45 million with an opt-out clause that Ramirez could exercise at the end of the first year.
Both sides said the deal wasn't complete.
"I assure you, we have no deal," Boras said.
"We have no announcements today and we don't expect one tonight," Dodgers spokesman Charles Steinberg said late Tuesday night.
Some details of the contract still have to be worked out, namely how Ramirez will be paid.
McCourt offered Ramirez a contract with the same terms last week. McCourt's proposal called for payments to be spread out over five years, with Ramirez receiving $10 million every year from this year to 2012 and $5 million in 2013. Because no interest would have been added to the deferred payments, Boras said he calculated the "net present value" of that deal to be worth $42 million.
Boras countered by asking for $45 million over two years without any deferred payments.
On Saturday, Boras made another counterproposal, this one with a "net present value" of $43.5 million, the midpoint between the most recent proposals made by the two sides. The deal was also for two years and $45 million, and included deferred payments with interest.
But McCourt was upset that a deal wasn't finalized by Friday because the talks of the negotiations upstaged the grand opening of the Dodgers' new spring training ballpark. That prompted the owner to say on Sunday that discussions would start from scratch when they resumed.
