L.A.  Times: Manny Ramirez’s agent contacts the Dodgers

The Dodgers’ on-again, off-again negotiations with Manny Ramirez appear to be on again.

Scott Boras, the agent for Ramirez, said he contacted the Dodgers today, one day after General Manager Ned Colletti told The Times that Ramirez remained “our first choice.” The Times also reported the Dodgers had begun exploring possible alternatives in Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn.

Boras said he expected the market for Ramirez to start taking shape soon, with the end of the holiday season and the signing of Mark Teixeira, the most coveted hitter among free agents, by the New York Yankees.

Ramirez, 36, headed into free agency hoping for a contract of five or six years. The Dodgers, the only team to acknowledge making a bid for Ramirez, offered him two years and $45 million, then withdrew the proposal when their exclusive negotiating window expired.

Boras declined to say whether he believed Ramirez would command a contract beyond two years. He did say that he did not expect teams would judge Ramirez primarily on his stormy departure from Boston, with the Red Sox paying the Dodgers to take one of the game’s elite hitters for the final two months of the season.

Ramirez, who arrived in Los Angeles amid allegations he failed to play hard during a contract dispute, helped lead the Dodgers to the playoffs by hitting .396 in 53 games, with 17 home runs and 53 runs batted in.

“I think teams look at what he was like when he was out of a situation that he did not feel was most pleasing,” Boras said, “and at how he performed in an environment he wanted to be in—much like the one he’ll be going to. I think they’ll look at the totality of the circumstances and realize the impact this player can have.”