Report: Manny Ramirez Will Play In Taiwan If Not MLB
BOSTON (CBS) - Manny Ramirez will be playing baseball in 2013, one way or another.
The former Red Sox slugger told ESPNdeportes.com that if he isn't employed by a Major League team by March 7, he'll head overseas and play for a team in Taiwan.
Ramirez, a .312 hitter with 555 home runs over his 19-year MLB career, said he has a deal with the EDA Rhinos in the China Professional Baseball League with a March 7 deadline to make his final decision.
"I will play in Taiwan if I cannot get work in the U.S. by that deadline," Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com. "It will be a new experience, to experience another culture while I keep doing what I love and what I've done in all my life, playing baseball."
Ramirez' agent called American League clubs this off-season to gauge interest on the 40-year-old, but no team seemed anxious to bring Manny aboard.
Ramirez had a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics last season, and served a 50-game PED suspension in Triple-A, but became a free agent when the A's did not call him up mid-season. He last played in the Majors in 2011, when he played five games for the Tampa Bay Rays before abruptly retiring.
