By every indication, today – Sunday, November 9, 2014 – will be Hanley Ramirez’s last full day as a Dodger. Ramirez, who was given a $15.3 million qualifying offer last Monday, has until 2 p.m. PT on Monday, November 10 to officially accept or decline the Dodgers offer which, quite frankly, he would be foolish to accept.

Now this isn’t to say that Ramirez wouldn’t be a welcome sight on the Dodgers 2015 opening day roster, as he most certainly would; it’s just that, to date, no player has ever accepted a qualifying offer since it became part of the MLB Players Association Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2012 – not even one. Additionally, the $15.3 million qualifying offer to Ramirez is less than the $16 million that he made in 2014 – albeit not by much.

“We’re going to try to keep him here,” said Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten on MLB Network Radio last Monday. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen.”

During spring training Ramirez was reportedly seeking a five to six-year contract extension in the $130 million range from the Dodgers – a deal that Kasten and former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti wanted no part of because of Ramirez’s injury history and with top shortstop prospect Corey Seager less than two years away from the big leagues. Had Ramirez come in with a two or three-year deal the Dodgers probably would have jumped on it, but instead contract talks stalled once the 2014 season got under way.

In his two-plus seasons with the Dodgers (278 total games), Ramirez hit a combined .299 with 43 home runs, 71 doubles and four triples. He had 173 RBIs, scored 156 runs, stole 31 bases while being caught 10 times.

When 100% healthy there wasn’t a more feared hitter in the Dodgers line-up than Hanley Ramirez.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Realistically, a six-year / $130 million contract may seem a bit on the high side for the soon-to-be 31-year old Ramirez even with his career triple slash of .300 / .373 / .500 and his excellent .873 OPS through 10 MLB seasons. Where the red flag goes up is that Ramirez has averaged less than 124 games (123.6 to be exact) in each of his last three seasons due to a variety of injuries that include his back, hamstring, calf, thumb and wrist – not to mention the broken rib he suffered during Game-1 of the 2013 NLCS that took him (and the Dodgers) out of the series.

That being said, when guys like Jacoby Ellsbury and  Shin-Soo Choo signed deals worth $153 million and $130 million respectively last off-season, it is not unreasonable to believe that Ramirez could land a $130 million deal this winter – especially in the American League where he could be used as a designated hitter. Make no mistake about it, a healthy Hanley Ramirez is a tremendous offensive threat in any line-up, but his .961 fielding percentage in 2014 ranked dead last in the National League among shortstops who played a minimum of 108 games at the position.

This past Thursday, our good friend Eric Stephen over at TrueBlueLA.com noticed that Ramirez had changed his Twitter handle removing any reference to the Dodgers. Ramirez then posted this tweet:

Ramirez followed this with another tweet a short time later that may have tipped his hand about his intentions:

Although most Dodger fans will be sad to see Hanley go, there is a silver lining to his departure. If Ramirez declines the Dodgers QO and he signs with any other team, the Dodgers get a compensation draft pick after the first round. As we have all learned, draft picks are gold these days. And with guys like Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Gabe Kapler and Billy Gasparino behind the trigger, you can bet that the Dodgers will do well in that compensatory round.

Thanks for the great memories, Hanley – and Godspeed to you wherever you may end up.