As we all know, the front office is in a strong position with Manny Ramirez this coming offseason. His numbers in the past few years haven't been awful and his playoff performances cannot be argued. Here is just a small sampling of his recent stats:

HR AVG OBP SLG
37 .325 .427 .587 --> 2003
43 .308 .397 .613 --> 2004
45 .292 .388 .594 --> 2005
35 .321 .439 .619 --> 2006
20 .296 .388 .493 --> 2007

I think the real question is, what kind of year it will take to get the Sox to pick up an option year. I imagine that if Manny puts up even what he did last year the FO picks up an option. It is a lot of money, but short money, and the FAs after 2008 are meager (not including those with options):

Bobby Abreu NYY
Moises Alou NYM
Willie Bloomquist SEA
Emil Brown OAK
Pat Burrell PHI
Endy Chavez NYM
Adam Dunn CIN
Jim Edmonds SD
Juan Encarnacion STL
Cliff Floyd TB
Raul Ibanez SEA
Jacque Jones DET
Mark Kotsay ATL
Rob Mackowiak WAS
Kevin Mench TEX
Craig Monroe MIN
Jay Payton BAL
Scott Podsednik COL
Juan Rivera LAA
Rondell White MIN

Personally, I think the plan should be to pick up the option for next year. PECOTA projects a 3.7 WARP this year and a 3.1 WARP next year, and after that a huge dropoff so it could certainly be re-evaluated as each option comes up. However, as for this first upcoming option (since I don't think he will dip any lower than his numbers last year) I think it should be a mere formality that the FO picks it up...