Manny Ramirez Likely to Sign with Oakland Athletics

Sussan Slusser from the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Oakland Athletics are very likely to sign Manny Ramirez. She says that they will sign him just before or a little after the start of the 2012 MLB season.

Pitchers and catchers report this Saturday, and position players on February 24th. Ramirez is known for being late to Spring Training, but it would be expected that the A's might want him in a Spring Training game,

The A's will use Ramirez as their designated hitter this season. Ramirez signed with the Tampa Bay Rays last off season, before abruptly retiring mid April. It was later revealed that this was due to Ramirez flunking another drug test, and he was suspended for 100 games as a repeat offender.

MLB reduced his sentence to 50 games after he unretired, so he will be able to play with the Athletics 50 games into this season.