LOS ANGELES — Manny Ramirez is coming back to the Dodgers next season.

The team said Friday that the slugger exercised his $20 million contract option for 2010.

His agent Scott Boras informed general manager Ned Colletti of the decision, which Ramirez had until this month to make.

He could have exercised an out clause in the two-year, $45 million deal he signed in March.

Ramirez hit .290 with 19 home runs and 63 RBIs in 104 regular season games. He missed 50 games while suspended for violating baseball's drug policy.

In the NL division series against St. Louis, Ramirez batted .308 with no homers and two RBIs. Against Philadelphia in the NL Championship Series, he hit .263 with one homer and two RBIs.

Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers from Boston in July 2008.

“Obviously, he enjoys L.A.,” agent Scott Boras told The Los Angeles Times. “If he went into the marketplace, the real negative was that he could end up playing in a place he wasn't comfortable playing.”

Meanwhile, five other Dodgers filed for free agency Friday: catcher Brad Ausmus; pitchers Vicente Padilla, Guillermo Mota and Jeff Weaver; and pinch-hitter Jim Thome.

The Dodgers are believed to have interest mostly in Padilla, and likely would have interest in the 40-year-old Ausmus if he does not retire.