It was on. It was off. It lurched back to life overnight. But by early Saturday afternoon, according to a source, the much-ballyhooed Manny Ramirez trade proposal was all but dead.

 

Manny Ramirez

Ramirez

 

The Red Sox, Mets and Devil Rays had managed to revive this blockbuster, at least temporarily, by early Saturday. But by 2 p.m. ET, an official of one of the three teams was describing the trade as "close to dead."

 

Under the proposed deal, the Red Sox would have acquired Mets outfielder Mike Cameron and pitcher Aaron Heilman, and Devil Rays outfielder/designated hitter Aubrey Huff; the Mets would have received Ramirez, Devil Rays reliever Danys Baez and shortstop Julio Lugo; and Tampa Bay would get four prospects.

 

In fact, the official several times referred to the deal in the past tense, also said at one point that the teams were "out of time" and, at another point, that "I just think it's not going to work."

 

Major League Baseball's trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Sunday.

 

Despite extensive talks, meetings, proposals and counterproposals, the official said the trade "never got that close where all three sides felt they could sign off on a deal."

 

However, there were indications that the Red Sox and Devil Rays still could pull off another trade, one that would send Huff to Boston for two prospects.

 

One of those prospects almost certainly would be catcher Kelly Shoppach, who unwittingly became a source of controversy earlier in the day when the Red Sox backed out of a trade that would have sent Shoppach and outfielder Adam Stern to Colorado for outfielder Admin Bigbie.

 

Two baseball men who had spoken with the Red Sox and Rockies said that those two teams had actually agreed to that trade in writing Friday night, pending ownership approval. But on Saturday morning, the Red Sox told Colorado that their owners, curiously, had vetoed a deal that would have virtually no effect on Boston's payroll.

 

When reached by ESPN.com, Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd refused comment. A Red Sox executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said only that Boston's owners "were concerned that, with everything going on with Manny, we not have too much moving at once."

 

The Mets are now expected to resume their pursuit of Devil Rays closer Baez, and their talks with Texas on second baseman Alfonso Soriano. The Devil Rays have a number of teams interested in Baez, Huff and Lugo, who would have ended up with the Mets had the final Ramirez proposal been accepted.

 

Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays have talked to the Red Sox as well and made an "inquisitive call" about Ramirez, sources said.

 

Late Friday, the Red Sox, Mets and Devil Rays had decided that if they couldn't get a deal patched by noon Saturday, they would have no choice but to move on, an executive with one of the teams said late Friday night. Major League Baseball's trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Sunday.

 

"If there are any complications involving Manny's contract, or any financial ramifications [such as luxury tax or deferral issues, they] would require the approval of the commissioner's office," the executive said. "So this is not the kind of deal you can do at 3:59 p.m. Sunday."

 

Given that deadline, the executive said, "it's looking like it's not going to happen. Time's just running out. At some point it just becomes too late."

 

In addition to the initial proposal of Ramirez and Baez being sent to the Mets, the Red Sox would acquire Huff and Cameron, and the Devil Rays would receive two prospects apiece from New York and Boston.

 

But a source said the Red Sox felt they could not go ahead with trading Ramirez and two prime prospects -- reportedly catcher Kelly Shoppach and right-hander Anibal Sanchez -- if all they were receiving was Cameron and Huff. So they went back to the Mets "for more pieces," the source reported.

 

At that point, the Mets "squashed the whole thing" and talks broke off. A baseball man with knowledge of the discussions said the Red Sox asked the Mets for a "key player," whom the Mets felt they couldn't trade.

 

An official with one of the three teams told ESPN.com that the Mets never walked away from the deal Friday night over money -- Ramirez has $64.2 million remaining on his $160 million, eight-year contract. Rather, it was over their reluctance to let go of Lastings Milledge, one of their top prospects. Saturday, however the Mets had softened on that stance to temporarily revive the trade talks.

 

Red Sox prospect Hanley Ramirez would have been thrown into the mix ahd Milledge been included in the ultimate proposal. Milledge would potentially have gone to the Red Sox, and Hanley Ramirez would get shipped to Tampa Bay.

 

Senior writer Jayson Stark covers Major League Baseball for ESPN.com.

 

 

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2120374

not dead

If Tampa Bay gets Hanley Ramarez, wow. A couple years from now, Tampa will be scary.