Manny Longs for Cleveland

I'm not sure of the official count, but I believe the courtship between Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers before Manny finally signed his two-year deal this spring lasted around 14 years, 3 months, 5 days, and 18 hours. My memory and sense of time may be a bit off, but the bottom line is that it was a long time.

You know what didn't take a long time, though? Manny figuring out where he'd like to play next. We're only a week into the new season and Manny's new deal and he's already dreaming of going back to where his career all started. In Cleveland, as an Indian.

"I would like to play for Cleveland one more time, to go back where I started," said Ramirez, with the Dodgers playing their home opener Monday against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. "I have so many good memories there, why not?

"I think to go back where you started is everyone's dream."

I have to believe that this is the first time in history that anybody has said to themselves, "You know what? I'm sick of the beautiful weather and scenery here in Los Angeles. I want to go to Cleveland."

It should be pointed out that this isn't an idea that just popped into Ramirez's head over the weekend, either. It turns out he's had it since joining the Dodgers in spring training where they share Camelback Ranch with the White Sox. The White Sox are the current home of one of Manny's old teammates in Cleveland, Jim Thome, and it seems that Manny approached Thome with the idea of both of them returning to the Tribe next season.

"Manny was very sincere when he brought that up to me," Thome said. "Manny was saying how special that would be for us to both go back together. He was very passionate. Baseball's such a weird thing. You never know what's going to happen."

Thome is a free agent after the 2009 season and Ramirez can opt out of his two-year deal if he so desires, so it's not crazy that both of them could end up back in Cleveland next season. Now Dodgers fans may not be very happy to hear this, but this could actually be a very good thing for them.

The only way Manny is going to opt out of his current deal in this current economic climate is if he feels he can get more money somewhere else, and in order to do that he's going to need a monster season. So maybe Dodger fans should hope he's serious.