After a short stint playing baseball in Taiwan, 41-year-old Manny Ramirez has signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers, the team announced Wednesday.
He will report Thursday to the Class AAA Round Rock (Texas) Express, where he will work out for a few days before being activated.
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Ramirez, a 12-time All-Star, has been out of the major leagues since 2011, when he played five games in April with the Tampa Bay Rays. He chose to retire when faced with a 100-game suspension after failing a test for a performance-enhancing drug. In December 2011, his appeal reduced the suspension to 50 games, which he served after signing a minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics before the 2012 season.
"Obviously, with our history, we like giving guys second chances," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told reporters Wednesday. "We know on and off the field the good and the bad in Manny's career. We're inclined to give him an opportunity here. When it comes to playing for the Rangers, two things are critical to us. One, obviously, you have to be talented and productive, and, just as important, you've got to fit our winning culture here in Arlington and throughout our organization."
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This season, playing for the EDA Rhinos of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, the designated hitter was batting .352 with eight home runs, 13 doubles and 43 RBI. His on-base percentage was .422, and he was slugging at a .555 clip.
Ramirez, whom Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler called "one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all-time" Wednesday, is a career .312/.411/.585 big-league hitter. He ranks 14th on the all-time home run list with 555. After spending the first eight years of his Major League Baseball career with the Cleveland Indians, Ramirez won two World Series in his next eight seasons with the Boston Red Sox. The first time he won with the Red Sox, in 2004, he led the American League in homers with 43 and was named World Series MVP. His career has also included stays with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox.
"If he's productive and we feel he'll fit our culture in the clubhouse, we'll give him an opportunity," Daniels told reporters. "If either of those ends don't pan out, kind of no harm, no foul."
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