9:46pm: Jayson Stark of ESPN.com reports that Ramirez’s agent, Scott Boras, and Dodgers GM Ned Colletti spoke by phone Wednesday. As Stark writes, "There were no indications the two sides made any significant progress toward resolving their differences. But they did agree to stay in touch over the next several days."
6:55pm: Giants manager Bruce Bochy appeared on XM Radio’s Home Plate program Wednesday afternoon. Manny was discussed:
The host, Lee Hamilton, asked Bochy whether the Giants are in on Ramirez. His response: "Well, I’ll say this, he is a free agent, Lee. There have been talks."
"I can’t quantify how much of a player, but this guy no question a tremendous player. Impacts the game, very few players can, it’s got to be the right thing. This is a business, you understand, that as a manager my job is to manage the players. Whatever ownership can do, which they done a lot already, I’ve got to be thankful for what we’ve done. Acquiring [Randy] Johnson, relievers, [Edgar] Renteria, but as long he [Ramirez] is still out there, you never know."
9:29am: We start out today’s Manny Ramirez rumors with a Scott Boras quote obtained by Yahoo’s Tim Brown, which apparently refers to the Dodgers:
"What I do know, you better watch out when you’re playing chicken."
Meanwhile, Buster Olney wonders if Manny, not Boras, is behind the holdout.
Need a refresher on all the recent developments in this saga? Check out our Manny archive.