Manny Ramirez Has Signed With The A's

After Yoenis Cespedes signed in Oakland, we told you that the A's had one of the strangest offseasons in recent memory, in part because of their extended flirtation with Manny Ramirez, who, facing a PED suspension, retired from baseball last year after a forgettable short stint in Tampa. But we didn't really believe, particularly after the Cespedes deal, that Manny would become an Athletic—they already have plenty of corner-outfielder/DH types, including but not limited to Cespedes, Jonny Gomes, Josh Reddick, Seth Smith, Brandon Allen, Chris Carter, Daric Barton, and Kila Ka'aihue. Surely Manny would only bring redundancy to this motley crew.

Think again! He's signed with Oakland for one year and $500k to fill the Athletics' designated maybe-washed-up slugger slot previously owned by David Justice, Frank Thomas (who somehow had 39 homers for Oakland in 2006), Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas again, Jason Giambi, and Hideki Matsui.

Some outlets say it's a minor-league deal, others don't specify—it's beside the point, anyway, because Manny will turn up on the big club (or get released) once his 50-game suspension ends and he's had a few tune-up games. We know he won't stick around at AAA. This probably spells doom for one (or more) of those slugging scrubs, but, you know, we don't really care about that, because of Mannyball. What a team.

Manny Ramirez says he'll join A's [ESPN]