Agent Scott Boras has contacted the Los Angeles Dodgers to re-open negotiations for the services of star free agent Manny Ramirez, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Boras told the Times that he contacted the Dodgers on Tuesday, one day after the paper quoted Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti as saying Ramirez remained "our first choice."

The Dodgers has begun exploring free agents Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn as possible alternatives to Ramirez, the mercurial slugger who left the Boston Red Sox in a trail of acrimony in a midseason trade, only to carry the Dodgers to the National League Championship Series.

Ramirez, 36, has said in the past that he hoped for a five- or six-year contract. But the Dodgers offered only two years, albeit at $45 million. Los Angeles later withdrew the offer after failing to make any progress.

Boras told the Times that he didn't expect teams to look at the controversy in Boston, but at the entire body of Ramirez's work.

"I think teams look at what he was like when he was out of a situation that he did not feel was most pleasing," Boras told the newspaper, "and at how he performed in an environment he wanted to be in — much like the one he'll be going to. I think they'll look at the totality of the circumstances and realize the impact this player can have."

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