"Because you never know what you're going to get with Manny Ramirez, he easily qualifies as the biggest box of chocolates in baseball.

That box has fallen into the laps of the Tampa Bay Rays this year. Will they get only yummy, cream-filled goodness from one of the most gifted sluggers in baseball history and none of the yucky, foul-tasting off-field antics?

So far, there's been only lip-smacking good times between Ramirez and the Rays. However, the Rays harbor no illusions about who, and what, they've got on their hands.

"It's been really interesting,'' said manager Joe Maddon about "Ramirez 2011'' before last night's game against the Red Sox. "Listen, I enjoy it, and I want to believe it's going to remain the way it is right now. I'm certain we're going to have different moments in the course (of the season), like I do with anybody, but it's up to us and to me personally to draw our own conclusions about Manny.''

Ramirez' la-la-land ways, which ranged between simply goofy and downright ugly, led directly to his trade out of Boston in the middle of the 2008 season.

A positive drug test in 2009 with the Dodgers tarnished his on-field resume, and he wound up having a poor stint with the White Sox late last season.

His best is in the past, making the 38-year-old a $2 million low risk, a decently high-upside gamble for the Rays to take in order to find out what is left of his legacy. They do it with their eyes wide open.

"I understand that it's difficult for people to change at a certain part of their life, I understand that, too,'' said Maddon. "But who knows how the urban legend grows or what was the motivation behind it? For me, I'm just more concerned getting to know someone personally, the way I get to know people. And I'm not saying it's better than anybody else; I'm just saying I have to go about it my way before I draw my own conclusions. I've always been that way. With Manny, I'm just trying to get to know him personally and getting to understand him better, and while we're doing that, just trying to understand where he's at in his career physically.''"