masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgDALLAS – When Andy MacPhail was the Orioles team president, if the club was rumored to be involved with a player at the Winter Meetings and the reports were unfounded, MacPhail could be counted on to set the Baltimore media straight.

“I wouldn’t go down that road (with that rumor),” was typical of something he might say to let us know that rumor was going to turn out to be just that and nothing more.

Given the chance to do that last night about Manny Ramirez, a player he once signed in…DALLAS – When Andy MacPhail was the Orioles team president, if the club was rumored to be involved with a player at the Winter Meetings and the reports were unfounded, MacPhail could be counted on to set the Baltimore media straight.

“I wouldn’t go down that road (with that rumor),” was typical of something he might say to let us know that rumor was going to turn out to be just that and nothing more.

Given the chance to do that last night about Manny Ramirez, a player he once signed in Boston to a $160 million dollar contract, Dan Duquette did not make a similar comment.

He said, “Manny’s always interesting and he’s never predictable. I don’t know too much about the mechanics of what we would have to do or if we could do it, but Manny’s always a lot of fun to be around and he’s always entertaining.”

If it’s possible even, Ramirez back then provided Duquette’s Red Sox a nice offensive return on their investment and finished in the top nine of the AL MVP race in 2001 and 2002 and finished top six the three years after that.

But a Duquette-Ramirez reunion in Baltimore? Seems highly, highly unlikely. Although it has not been summarily dismissed yet by Duquette so some national reporters are speculating that Baltimore could be Manny’s landing spot if he gets reinstated by Major League Baseball.

Signing an aging designated hitter well past his prime? The Orioles have been there and done that. Signing one that will soon be 40 and would be a terrible influence around anyone else on the team and needs to be re-instated to the game? I’ll pass but will Dan? I sure hope so.