DALLAS.  Manny Ramirez has become the Greta Garbo of the winter meetings here, telling general managers of clubs who want to deal for him that, most of all, he wants to be alone.

"Manny's decision to leave the Red Sox came down to one guy in a Dunkin' Donuts in Boston," said his agent Greg Genske.  "He asked Manny to hand him a Sweet 'n Low, and when their eyes met, the guy recognized him and said 'Nice dinger today.'  As far as Manny was concerned, that was the last straw."

The term sheet that Genske is circulating to interested teams accordingly requires them to move to a remote location, preferably one where residents get by on a subsistence economy.

While acknowledging that the request was unusual, interested clubs have been willing to accommodate the man with the best at bat-to-RBI ratio in the majors over the past 45 years. 

The Texas Rangers have agreed to investigate a possible move to Guadalupe, Mexico, the Mets are looking at venues on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the Los Angeles Angels have indicated they would consider playing on Tinian Island in the South Pacific, the site of the first atom bomb test.

"Manny's not some kind of diva," Genske told a gaggle of reporters who stopped him in a hotel lobby as he purchased dental floss, a Spanish-language version of "Mad Libs" and a bag of Andy Capp Pub Fries for his reclusive client, who was reported to be holed up at the Alamo, 270 miles south of Dallas in San Antonio. 

Copyright 2005, Con Chapman