Jon Heyman has the tweet:

manny gets minor-league deal with a’s. just wants opportunity

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) February 20, 2012

He just wants an opportunity. That is unintentionally humorous, as Manny Ramirez has an entire luggage-cart full of baggage to bring with him to Oakland.

Besides the 50-game suspension he is going to have to serve presuming he makes the major league roster (and MLB is being nice to him by not making him serve the 100-game suspension he should be serving by being caught a second time using PEDs), Ramirez has simply not been very productive for the last two teams he’s played for.

He was 1-for-17 for the Rays in 2011 before “retiring” because he didn’t want to serve the 100-game suspension.

Before that, he hit .261/.420/.319 with one home run in 88 plate appearances for the White Sox late in 2010. The on-base percentage is good, but that slugging percentage — ugly.

And, he hasn’t played at all in nearly a year, and will be 40 years old in May, and probably shouldn’t pick up a fielder’s mitt at all, not even to hand it to a teammate.

But it might provide some entertainment at A’s spring training, if nothing else.