Manny Ramirez Looking to Come Out of Retirement, Play in Taiwan
While we continue to wait for the MLB season to get underway, there is baseball being played elsewhere on the globe. With that said, there are always players that had some experience playing in the majors taking the field overseas, either in an effort to rejuvenate their career or make a living as a commodity of sorts on the other side of the globe. The KBO is planning to get their regular season underway on May 5 with a full 144-game regular season that runs through the beginning of November. Meanwhile, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), a five-team league in Taiwan, got their season underway earlier this month.
As it stands, the CPBL could get a major shot in the arm from an interest perspective if things pan out the way a former major league player hopes. According to reports, former All-Star Manny Ramirez is interested in taking his bat to Taiwan to play in the CPBL this season. The former major league player hasn’t been in the majors since a brief five-game stint with Tampa Bay in 2011. In his career, he was a dangerous hitter, posting a .312/.411/.585 slash line with the Indians, Red Sox, Dodgers, White Sox and Rays. He was named an All-Star on 12 different occasions and earned nine Silver Slugger Awards. While he never claimed a MVP award, he finished in the top six of the voting on seven different occasions.
Ramirez was part of two championship teams, earning rings with Boston in 2004, when he was named World Series MVP, and 2007. He slammed 555 homers, 547 doubles, scored 1,544 runs, picked up 2,574 hits and drove in 1,831 runs in his career over the course of 9,774 plate appearances in 19 years. In the postseason, Ramirez slashed .285/.394/.544 with 19 doubles, 29 homers and 78 RBI in 111 playoff games. He was suspended for 50 games in 2009 after testing positive for a female fertility drug that is commonly used by steroid users. After he tested for elevated testosterone levels in 2011, rather than face a second suspension, he made the choice to retire.
In an interview with The Taiwan Times, Ramirez stated that he had a few offers from the independent Atlantic League but that he wants to return to Taiwan and play baseball again. He had played for the EDL Rhinos of the CPBL in 2013, two years after retiring from the majors, and had some success playing there. During his tenure with the team, he played in 49 games, posting a .352/.422/.555 slash line with 13 doubles, eight homers and 43 RBI over 204 plate appearances. He was near the league leaders in average, homers and RBI before leaving the team to return to the United States to be closer to his family.
It will be interesting to see what Ramirez has in the tank at age 47 should he decide to get back on the field in any capacity this season. While he had success in the CPBL back in 2013, he was still playing minor league and winter league ball in the Dominican Republic after hanging up his cleats in the majors. At this point, the last time he has had any action came back with Aguilas in the Dominican Winter League in 2014-15. While he hit .313 with six homers and 28 RBI in 41 games, that was more than five years ago. How much has his bat speed eroded at this point in time? While the CPBL isn’t going to have a parade of guys throwing in the high-90s to 100-plus miles an hour, he still is going to have to prove that he has the ability to get around on pitches.
Could Ramirez be the new Julio Franco? Like Ramirez, he spent a good chunk of his career in Cleveland and had an extended career. Franco played from 1982 to 2007, finally hanging it up after playing 55 games split between the Mets and the Braves. His final game was on September 17, 2007 as a pinch hitter for the Braves against the Marlins. In that game, he hit a RBI single in the eighth inning of an 11-6 Atlanta win at the age of 49 years, 25 days. In addition, Franco is the oldest player to hit a homer at 48 years, eight months, 11 days. While Ramirez is still short of those marks chronologically and he likely won’t make a return to the major leagues, the fact that he wants to see what he can bring to the table at this stage is impressive. We’ll be watching to see if this actually does come to fruition.