The scumbags never had any intention of signing Manny.

After last nights post, I would have been hard pressed to find a more disgraceful day and set of circumstances. But today absolutely has seen the lowest most slime filled lies from a sports franchise I have ever witnessed.

After last night's press release from Frank Mccourt excoriating the super agent for turning down a two year, $45 Million dollar offer with a player opt out in the second year, the truth became known this morning when Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times referred to a source which made it clear that the two year offer was for deferred money. In other words, rather than Ramirez making $25 Million guaranteed and paid in full in the first year, and then the remaining player optioned $20 Million for year two, the Dodgers had every intention of doling out the money over five years or more. The first year Ramirez would be paid $10 Mil, then another $10 Mil for the second year, and the remaining $25 Million in two $10 Million years and a final $5 Million in 2013. Further, the deferred amount would be interest free, which means that if the economy continues to tank, the money would be worth less in five years with no compensation to escalate the total amount. Apparently Boras proposed a counter-offer of $55 Million to cover that interest and that's when the Dodgers pulled the offer off the table. Currently there is no offer at all.

What is incomprehensible is not the deferred money, which apparently was part of the deal since November. What is incomprehensible and reprehensible, is that the Dodgers claimed in a mass e-mailing and public forum, that Boras rejected the deal outright. In addition, owner Mccourt rambled on accusing Boras of manipulating the Dodgers in an attempt to get them to bid against themselves. He claimed that the negotiations would have to start over from scratch. This was why the public perception that Manny was a greedy asshole was so strong last night. It was not until today that the real truth came out and that we saw that the Dodgers were attempting to crucify Manny and Boras for their own nefarious purposes, which I now believe were to create a backlash against the player and his agent in attempts to deflect criticism away from the truth, which was that they never, EVER had any intention of signing Manny in the first place, as remarkable as that sounds. In fact, they have cynically used these negotiations to manipulate the season ticket sales and are now coming to the end of them.

To suggest that this is an abomination of the stewardship of a civic franchise and treasure like the Dodgers is the understatement of the century. Frank and Jamie McCourt should be investigated by Major League Baseball at once and if there is any indication that they have ethically or otherwise violated the spirit or letter of ownership and/or the collective bargaining agreement, they must be removed as owners of the team and the Dodgers placed in a trusteeship until a legitimate owner is chosen. However, that would also continue to implicate Bud Selig in his tacit approval of the Mccourts in the first place. I do not remember an off-season this dark and this ugly, from A-Rod, to the NY Yankee Stanford frozen assets case, to these despicable Dodgers/Manny/Boras negotiations. If Selig doesn't come in and put an end to this, he is simply cementing his legacy as the absolute pariah of all baseball commissioners and should be banned from the game forever.

As far as the Dodgers are concerned, they lost 18 to 0 to the Mariners in Arizona today. I wonder if these lies and duplicities had any effect on the teams performance on the field. You think?