Totally flippin' hilarious! The combined writing teams of Leno, Letterman, and O'Brien couldn't make up comedy gold like this.

Thank you Buster Olney for cutting through the rubbish and telling everyone the plain truth: the Dodgers are sick of Manny and are willing to do whatever it takes to make him just go away.

What a shock that he has already worn out his welcome with yet another team. I believe this is what scientists would refer to as a "pattern".

Oddly enough, Manny hasn't hit that well at Coors: .255/.387/.353 in 62 PAs.

You can't expect a pregnant man to play left field in Colorado.

I'd say it's more that the Dodgers want to trade him since they're out of it, he's paid a lot, and they would like to get a prospect for him since they won't resign him. Given his 3 dl trips this year - why risk another muscle pull that would make him untradeable? But please, don't let the actual situation get in the way of your hate.

Benching him is probably also a way to tell him what happens if he refuses to drop his no-trade clause.

That the Dodgers are likely to lose more games?

What a shock that he has already worn out his welcome with yet another team. I believe this is what scientists would refer to as a "pattern".

Okay, let's imagine that the Dodgers are "fed up with" Manny Ramirez, something for which no evidence has been identified. That would make two in a row. You must know some really stupid scientists.

More teams claimed old, expensive, desteroided, untradeable, washed-up Ramirez on waivers last week than have gotten tired of him.

Reading these threads the last few days on Manny, you'd think his OPS+ was closer to 50 than 150.

Another Manny thread!

the Dodgers are sick of Manny and are willing to do whatever it takes to make him just go away.

If LA was really sick of him, Chicago would have had his services this month.

I think LA's actions speak louder than your words: If they deem the playoffs are possible, he stays (as he's done), if not, he's gone. If it's the latter, which it appears it may be, that's still no indication they don't want him. No team in their right mind would offer the guy arbitration because DH's - even great one's - aren't worth $16m, so he's set free in another month anyway. LA might as well get something back today, be it $4.5m or a prospect.

If LA was really sick of him, Chicago would have had his services this month.

Clearly, the Dodgers are desperately hoping to get SOMETHING in exchange for his departure instead of nothing. Divorce lawyers are pretty expensive.

I have a hard time believing that the Dodgers truly think that they can still make the playoffs. If they really believed this, they would almost certainly be playing Ramirez, who in spite of his atrocious defense is still a better starting option out there than Scott Podsednik.

Benching Ramirez for four consecutive games in favor of Podsednik is an insult to the man, and frankly it seems like a rather odd way to me to try and convince another team to give you something in exchange for him.

The only other possibility I can think of is that he's still injured, and if that's the case then I don't know why in the world the White Sox would give up anything whatsoever for a short term rental on a long shot at the playoffs.

Well, again - he's been injured 3 times this year, with leg injuries. He's fine for batting, but the Dodgers would really rather not have him in the field if there's any chance that they will trade him, since another injury would leave them on the hook for all his money AND mean they get no performance from him. So they are using him as a pinch hitter, until they decide whether to accept Chicago's offer. So that's another possibility that you haven't considered, one that actually fits into the facts, unlike your theory. If they just wanted to get rid of him, they would have accepted the waiver claim without trying to negotiate. And if they didn't have any belief that they were competitive, Colletti wouldn't have made those deadline trades, he wouldn't have added payroll with a waiver claim just last week. But since the odds are longer now, of course they are exploring if they can get anything they value for Manny.