Manny Ramirez predicts this is his final season with the Dodgers

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PHOENIX -- On the day he reported to the spring training, Manny Ramirez predicted this would be his last season with the Dodgers.

“I know I’m not going to be here next year,” Ramirez said.

So you don’t think you will re-sign with Dodgers?

“I doubt it, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m happy to be here. I’m going to try to enjoy myself.”

Asked what made him think he wouldn’t be in Los Angeles in 2011, Ramirez replied, “I don’t know. I just know that I’m not going to be here.”

Did he see himself moving to the American League?

“I don’t know,” Ramirez said. “We’ll see. Let’s take it a day at a time.”

Ramirez said he wasn’t even certain if he wanted to play next season.

“I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know about today, so….” he said. “When the season is over, I want to see where I’m at. If I play, I play. If they let me play, I play.”

Ramirez said the game was still fun to play.

“All the time,” he said.
Of his struggles last season, Ramirez said, “For me, it was great. I was telling myself, ‘Thank you, God.’ At least I was playing. That’s how I look at things. We didn’t make the World Series, but at least we were there.

“I think I did a great job. It was good what I did, coming back” from a 50-game drug suspension. “What happened last year, that’s in the past. This year’s a new year, so we’ll see.”

Ramirez refused to talk in detail about problems at the plate last season, but he acknowledged that they made him change his off-season training regimen.

“My whole career, I never hit,” he said. “But after this year, I felt I needed to figure out a couple of [things]. That’s what I did.”

Did he figure out the cause of his problems?

“We’re going to see in September,” he said. “If I’m still here.”

Ramirez said he weighs 235 pounds.
-- Dylan Hernandez