The Dodgers reportedly have put Manny Ramirez on waivers, and the Chicago White Sox are thought to be interested, so the end of Mannywood could be near. Very near.

If so, he goes out with a whimper more than a bang. Or actually, with a “no comment” … which is fine, because Manny stopped being particularly relevant to the Dodgers at about the same time he tested positive for a female hormone associated with performance-enhancing drugs, in May of 2009.

I hate to say “I told you so” … OK, I actually love to say it, because it’s not often I get to say it … but I predicted this Manny thing wouldn’t work out.

I was horrified by the rumors, just before the July 31, 2008 trade deadline, and then collected a batch of “thank God and Greyhound he’s gone” commentary from Boston media when the Dodgers actually made the trade. Which was mostly about the Red Sox just wanting him gone — to the extent that they paid his salary for the remainder of 2008.

To be sure, Manny had a great two months with the Dodgers in 2008, helping them get to the playoffs by hitting 17 homers and driving in 53 runs in 53 games with an unholy OBP of .489. Though, as we now know, he was juicing, and we have a decade-plus of inflated stats from the Steroids Era to show how drugs can improve a hitter’s performance.

The key thing, for Manny, was that he got that two-year, $45-million contract from the Dodgers. Not the eight years for $100 mill that he and Scott Boras wanted, but it was enough to keep Manny in braids for the next season-plus.

At the time, I had quaffed the Kool-Aid and seen the Mannywood promotions and the sheer delight that he brought to simple fans, and I flip-flopped on the issue (it was an election year, after all). I actually wrote that the Dodgers should re-sign him. Yes.

(So my “told you so” has to go down as a “told you so … told you I was wrong to tell you so … told you so” moment. Hmm.)

Because … then came the drug bust that cost him 50 games in 2009, and without chemical help he was merely good, with 19 homers, 63 RBI and an OBP of .418 in 104 games, one of which was fairly memorable — when he slugged a grand slam on Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium.

This year, he’s been on the disabled list three times and has missed 63 of 127 games. He can still drive in runs (40 in 195 at-bats is a pretty good rate), but his power is eroding — only eight homers — and he’s even worse in the outfield, as if that were possible.

His interest seems to be waning, which is what happens when Manny is near the end of a contract, and the Dodgers seem a bit weary of him, too, which may be about him missing 121 games since Opening Day of 2009 . So if they can get the White Sox to pay for part of his salary, and maybe send them a prospect, it seems a certainty that Manny will be gone before the end of the week.

It was fun, actually, for a while. When he was juiced. Then “Manny being Manny” turned into the dark side of that equation, and he became undependable and only vaguely motivated, and when you’ve reached that stage with Manny … it’s time for him to move on.