Reason 1,456 on Manny being Manny:

He's got an agent — Scott Boras — who recently turned down a two-year, $45 million contact.

Perhaps one of the greatest baseball players of all time and by far one of the quirkiest, Manny Ramirez is playing a game of cat and mouse with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

If he and his agent aren't careful, they might be on the outside looking in when the baseball season begins in four weeks.

It's believed that this will be sorted out before than, that Manny needs only a few games to get ready for the season.

Ramirez, accused of dogging it before the training deadline for the Boston Red Sox and making up injuries that weren't there, was traded to the Dodgers for the final two months of the 2008 season.

He had a monster ride, carrying the Dodgers to the playoffs and their National League divisional series over the Chicago Cubs.

In 100 games with Boston last season, Ramirez batted .299 with 20 home runs, 68 RBI and 66 runs scored. In 53 games with the Dodgers, he hit .396 with 17 home runs, 53 RBI, 36 runs, an on-base percentage of .489 and a slugging percentage of .743.

With Ramirez turning 37 in late May, he already has Hall of Fame numbers (.314, 527 HR, 1,725 RBI, 1,444 R, 1,212 BB) and very well could demand Alex Rodriguez money ($27 million).

But can Manny realize the effort needed to be there for 162 games?

Boras and Ramirez turned down the Dodgers' one-year, $25-million offer that had a player option for $20 million for the next season. Ramirez could have left after one year if he wanted a better deal elsewhere. Then came word of deferred money, which knocked about $3 million off the total.

Boras then wanted a two-year, $55 million deal, but the Dodgers felt that was too steep. They did go back to two years for $45 million with no money deferred, but that was no good as well.

The Dodgers have since backed away from talks for the time being. That's good. Boras is trying to keep Manny away from camp as long as he can and, to his credit, get him the sweetest deal he can.

However, Boras assumes teams will come along to up the ante. They haven't. The only teams that can afford it are the New York Yankees (only if someone gets hurt), the Rangers (who overpaid on A-Rod in the first place) and, somehow, San Francisco, which could use that money for other players.

At some point, even the fickle L.A. fans will get turned off by this. Go sign Adam Dunn (he'll strike out 200 times and hit .240, but he could hit 50 homers with the Dodgers) or trade for someone. The Dodgers are still good enough to win, but they don't need Boras and Ramirez to hold them for ransom.

It should be the Dodgers who hold out, then offer less and less each day. Call Boras' bluff.

In this economy, someone has to draw the line — and it should be Manny and Boras standing behind it.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.