Manny Ramirez Praises Blue Jays’ New Manager

Manny Ramierez #99 of the Los Angeles Dodgers bats against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on July 15, 2010 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

Manny Ramirez recently said that he would like to play for John Farrell, who was hired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, according to an ESPN report on Monday.

“John [Farrell] has tremendous knowledge of the game, a very pleasant man and he trains ballplayers,” Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com in a telephone interview.

“Toronto has made a great acquisition,” he added. “Farrell is a manager for whom I would like to play, and Toronto is a team I’ve liked since they had all those Dominican players in the ‘80s.”

Ramirez played with the Red Sox when Farrell was the pitching coach, starting in 2007.

In 2008, the slugger was traded from the Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ramirez, 38, only played 90 games last season due to injury and, in that time, hit 9 home runs along with 42 RBIs .

“I never was at 100 percent, but I didn’t want to stop playing,” he said.

Ramirez has a .313 average and has hit 555 homers in 18 seasons in the majors.

“I still have a lot of baseball left in me,” he said. “I think that I can still bat if I keep myself healthy, and it is less probable to have an injury playing as the designated hitter.”