Ramirez inks deal with A’s

Manny Ramirez and the Oakland Athletics agreed on a minor league contract Monday that is worth approximately $500,000 if he’s added to the big league team’s roster.

The A’s announced the deal and said Ramirez is expected to report to spring training by the end of the week, in time for Oakland’s first full-squad workout Saturday. He is a non-roster invitee.

The 12-time All-Star is due to serve a 50-game suspension for his second positive drug test before he can play for the A’s. Barring rainouts, his first game could be May 30 – on his 40th birthday. But that didn’t deter general manager Billy Beane and the Athletics.

“I am very pleased Billy was able to add Manny to our team,” owner Lew Wolff said in an email. “I look forward to welcoming him and the entire team that Billy and his people have assembled for the coming season.”

At baseball’s winter meetings in December, it was announced that Ramirez had applied for reinstatement. He had his suspension for a second failed drug test cut to 50 games because he sat out nearly all of last season.

Ramirez ranks 14th on the career list with 555 home runs. He went 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for Tampa Bay, which had signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.02 million.

This would be the 20th major league season for Ramirez, a career .312 hitter with 1,831 RBIs.

Rivera hints at retirement

Mariano Rivera wouldn’t reveal the decision but he did say it’s been made.

Irrevocably.

And while playfully fencing with reporters about not disclosing his plans beyond this season, the game’s greatest closer sounded like a player ready to say goodbye.

“There’s a lot of things more than baseball I want to do, but it’s something everybody goes through,” Rivera, 42, said, coming off a season in which he had 44 saves with a 1.91 ERA.

Yes, it’s become a somewhat annual tradition – which the Yankees closer acknowledged with a smile – when he makes it sound as if wild horses dragged him to spring training.

“How many times have I told you guys that this is my last year? Maybe seven, eight years (back),” Rivera said. “I tell you guys, ‘after this year, I’m not going to play no more,’ and here it is, I play another two more years, sign another contract for three more years, then three more years … But this one is different. This one is, this is it. This is my decision. When I let you guys know what it is, you guys will know.”

Clearing the bases

Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy has received what general manager Dan O’Dowd calls an “indefinite” contract extension. O’Dowd says there was only a handshake – no formal paperwork or press release. … With the first full squad workout still several days away, Detroit’s three biggest stars already are at spring training in Lakeland, Fla. Prince Fielder joined slugger Miguel Cabrera and ace Justin Verlander to form an imposing trio of MVP-caliber players in their primes. Cabrera is at camp already, and Verlander’s first workout began Monday – which was also the right-hander’s 29th birthday.