FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Saying he wants to finish his career in a Red Sox
uniform, Manny Ramirez underwent his physical on Thursday and declared
himself ready to begin preparing for the upcoming season.

"I want to finish my career here, but it's up to them," Ramirez said.
"If that doesn't happen, I'm going to play somewhere else. I know I
can still play. What else can I say? It's up to them. I'm not the one
who writes the checks."

Ramirez is in the last year of his eight-year, $168 million contract,
and is scheduled to earn $20 million this season. The Red Sox have
team options for 2009 and '10, also at $20 million per season.

"I know what kind of situation I'm in," he continued. "I want to stay
here, but it's up to them if they want to bring me back. But if they
don't want to bring me back, that's fine. I'll be a free agent after
'08, and that's another thing to look forward.

"They're the ones who've got my options. It's up to them to say, 'OK,
we're going to take it.' It's not up to me to go into the office and
demand a four-year, eight-year deal, whatever. No. I'm going to come
here to play the game, finish my year, and if they want me to come
back, I come back."

This is the second time this month Ramirez has expressed a desire to
stay in Boston while also acknowledging that he has an eye on the
future beyond '08.

Ramirez ruled out the possibility of getting a deal done now or during
the season and said that if the Red Sox want to re-sign him, they will
have to wait.

"I want to wait and talk to them on what they want to do after the
season," he said. "I don't want to play the game and say, 'Oh, this
and that.' I want to play the game, finish the year and whatever
happens, happens.

"Nothing different, we're just going to go play the game and have fun,
like we always do. It's a new year. What we did in '07 is over. It's a
new year, we've got a great team. Let's just enjoy and see what happens."

Ramirez is coming off a season in which a strained left oblique
limited him to just 20 homers with 88 RBIs in 133 games, his lowest
totals since belting 26 homers and driving in 88 runs with Cleveland
in 1997. But the slugger said his offseason workout program at
Athletes Performance Institute in Arizona will pay dividends this year.

"Until the wheels fall off, I'm going to keep going to API; they're
... great people to work out [with], I'm going to keep doing it," he said.

He also joked about his on-time arrival to Fort Myers, reporting with
the rest of the position players.

"I'm always on time," Ramirez said. "I might be late two years in a
row, but I'm always on time. I feel great, man. I'm looking forward
for '08 and '09. I did my work like I always do every year, and I'm
excited to be here."

Source: Mike Petraglia / MLB.com