Actually, I thought, he'd prefer Dodger green. Ramirez had finally and permanently fallen out of favor in Boston, shoving a traveling secretary and suffering a knee injury that miraculously healed as soon as the Red Sox renounced their option and traded him to L.A.

It wasn't very Yogi-like, nor inconsistent with Curt Schilling's accusation that Ramirez "disrespected" his teammates. Then again, I wonder if Boras could distinguish between Ramirez's "open spirit," as he called it, and the spirit of commerce. The real reason for the trade was money. It was said, with some authority, that Boras believed he could get his client up to $100 million for four seasons.

Now I understand Boras' status as baseball's designated villain, but I can't help but root for him. As a rule, the owners — most of them prone to lazy and collusive thinking — believe in welfare (expansion fees, luxury taxes, stadium subsidies). Boras believes, if nothing else, in the sanctity of the market. For years, he's been more enterprising than his competition.

Still, $25 mil per for a 36-year-old malcontent?

Good luck, I thought.

Now, two months later, I can't help but think that Boras has outsmarted the opposition yet again.

No one has done as much for a single team this season as Manny Ramirez has done for Los Angeles. Not only has he transformed the Dodgers, he's changed the balance of power in the National League.

"I don't think it's going to happen," said Joe Torre when recently asked about Ramirez's MVP chances. "Two months is really tough. You look at Pujols and some of the things he's done ..."

Conventional wisdom says the league's most valuable player is Albert Pujols, who is hitting .354 with 34 homers and 104 RBIs. The MVP ballot's first two criteria are, first, "actual value of a player to his team" and second, "number of games played." To be sure, then, a first-place vote for Pujols is not a ballot miscast. But the Cardinals are a fourth-place team in the Central Division.

"It's depending on your interpretation of MVP," said Torre, who won the award with the Cardinals in '71. Torre recalls the controversy engendered by his selection: though he had the best stats, St. Louis didn't make the playoffs. Willie Stargell, meanwhile, led Pittsburgh to a World Series victory. "That's part of the argument," said Torre.

What makes a player valuable is not necessarily, or easily, quantifiable. Ryan Howard leads the league with 45 homers and 137 RBIs. But he's on his way to 200 strikeouts and hitting .249 — 18 points less than the lowest average by an MVP (that would be Marty Marion, a shortstop, who hit .267 in 1944). And though he's been torrid of late, the Phillies were still a first-place team early in the season when he couldn't buy a hit.

Next, consider CC Sabathia. If Ramirez should receive consideration for a partial season, then so should Sabathia, who's 9-1 since joining Milwaukee. The Brewers were 49-39 when he arrived from Cleveland. Now they're 84-68, a marginal drop in winning percentage.

Now, Ramirez's "actual value" far exceeds "number of games played." The Dodgers were 54-54 the day he arrived, but seemed worse off than that. They had little else but their "kids" — this generation's answer to Eric Karros — all of them good, but none great. In other words, they were star-less, the dullest big-market team I've ever seen.

What's more, you had the feeling they were about to crash. Their shortstop was apparently lost for the season. Their closer was on the DL. Their big free-agent acquisition (Andruw Jones, whom Boras got two years at a little more than $36 million) was a big, fat bust. And though the Dodgers are a mellow way to pass the time between this town's real obsessions — Lakers basketball and Southern Cal football — the general manager had finally begun to feel some real heat. It was about to get ugly.

Then came Manny, who made everybody forget that vast fortunes had been spent onJones and Jason Schmidt. The Dodgers were hitting .256 that day. According to Stats Inc., they've been hitting .285 ever since. As of Friday morning, they are 80-73, in sole possession of first place, and a lock for the playoffs.

"He made the difference," Torre said the other day.

Ramirez single-handedly changed the Dodgers from a bad-hitting club to a good-hitting one. Jeff Kent (the relentlessly dour veteran whose departure may have actually added to the club's recent good fortune) was hitting .255 when Ramirez arrived, but .343 thereafter. Andre Ethier, one of those aforementioned "kids" — a .274 hitter on August 1 — is batting .453 in front of Ramirez.

As for the prospective MVP himself, he's batting .400 with 44 RBIs in as many games. He has six game-winning hits. His slugging percentage is .738. His on-base percentage is .485. Even when he has a bad day, as he did Thursday, he walks a couple of times.

Finally, there's this: Dodger home attendance has gone from an average of 44,577 to 48,494, a 9 percent increase since Ramirez arrived.

Now you want to talk about value? Certainly, Boras does.

He's worth more here in Los Angeles, on a team with such a desperate need for a star, in a town where a star's peculiarities are interpreted as Buddha-like (or even Yogi-like) wisdom. It's not like Boston or New York. Everybody loves Manny here.

But maybe none more than Dodger general manager Ned Colletti. I can just imagine how Boras will begin the negotiations:

"What's it worth to you?" he'll say. "My guy saved your team and your job."

Philadelphia Phillies News News » Manny has done enough to be NL MVP
Manny has done enough to be NL MVP
On the afternoon of August 1, a hot Friday in Los Angeles, I listened to uber agent Scott Boras extol the Yogi Berra-like virtues of his client, Manny Ramirez. "Yogi had his own language and identity," said Boras. As does Ramirez, who soon appeared in mirrored shades with a full mane of dreads. "Boston is in the past," he declared in his pidgin patois. "I'm thinking blue right now." Meet the candidates So who is Manny up against? FOXSports.com baseball editor Aram Tolegian runs down the top five candidates for the NL MVP.