White Sox Tried to Nab Manny Ramirez From Dodgers

The White Sox did make an effort to get Manny Ramirez from the Dodgers on Friday, but it was apparently more of a half-hearted attempt to steal the beleaguered slugger.

The White Sox offered no players, just $1 million of the $6.7 million owed to Ramirez for the rest of the season. They wanted the Dodgers to pay the rest.

The White Sox have been looking for a big bat for the middle of their lineup, and they seemed to be focusing most of their energy on the Nationals' Adam Dunn. As the day lagged and the Dunn deal didn't happen, they checked in to see if the Dodgers were willing to cut ties with Ramirez.

Ramirez is currently on the DL for the third time this year. The Dodgers got Scott Podsednik to help out in his absence. Ramirez is hitting is .317 with eight homers and 39 RBIs. He has played in just 61 games. He is expected back in a week or 10 days, general manager Ned Colletti said.

This is the final year of Ramirez's two-year, $45-million contract with Los Angeles.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said that after reports surfaced about the White Sox interest, several other teams called on Ramirez on Saturday morning. Colletti said the calls came within an hour of the deadline, and there wasn't time to get all the pieces together, including having Ramirez waive his no-trade clause.

"At the end of the day we still need Manny," Colletti said. "We need him to get healthy, and we need him in left field an in the middle of the order. That's our plan, to keep him and hopefully get him back sooner than later and have him contribute to what were trying to get done."

Colletti said that the Dodgers wouldn't simply give away Ramirez, even if a team was willing to take on his whole salary.

"The club was built with him as the left fielder," Colletti said. "We haven't had him for most of the year, but that doesn't mean he can't provide us some help the rest of the season. It wasn't simply a money issue. If someone would have come to us with something where they were bringing us a player back who we thought could really help us win, we would have probably considered that if it was the right situation for Manny as well. With his no-trade clause, that's part of it you have to undertake as well."

The Dodgers could still trade Ramirez in August. He would have to clear waivers first, which he would probably do because of the amount of the contract. Even if Ramirez were claimed on waivers, the Dodgers couldn't simply let him go (like the Blue Jays did with Alex Rios) without Ramirez's consent.

When asked if he believes Ramirez will be with the Dodgers at the end of the season, Colletti said: "I think he will be."