Its about time.  Yesterday, as Dylan Hernandez writes, Jamie McCourt, President of the Dodgers, actually asked if the fans would rather see Manny Ramirez at Chavez Ravine or use that same money for the charitable contributions like building 50 youth ball fields around the LA area.  Thats the question isn’t it?  I believe, as fans, we would all rather see ownership spend the money rather than pocket it, but if the choice is have it show up in the community or have it go to a guy with Manny Ramirez’s reputation, well, that might be another story. But, then aren’t we all fans of winning?  Don’t we follow a team in hopes that they will cross that finish line and make it to the World Series?  Of course.  Can Manny Ramirez help the Dodgers do that? yes he can, but only if he is on the field, er, in the batter’s box that is.  So which, if you are the McCourts, do you decide to do?  And I think the answer with Manny is simple, you make a darn good offer, a very lucrative offer, but you don’t go beyond 2 years, no matter what Scott Boras tells you about another deal he has cooking.  Fans need something to cheer about, and if 9/11 taught me anything its the power of baseball to get one through tough times.  But, after seeing what happened in Boston, I think it would be hard for even a Dodger fan to stomach committing to a player who hasn’t shown much commitment in the past.  And so I want to comment Mrs. McCourt for asking the question.   An additional thought– give Manny $30 million a year, but require that he builds a couple of fields in the LA area with that money… then both the team and Manny wins. What do you think? Go to the poll and vote.