Theo is a Genius!
At least, that's how the Boston press and the brainwashed masses of Mass. will spin this trade.
Let's see... Manny Ramirez, career OPS+ of 154 (with a 140 now in what the Boston press is calling a "down year/decline phase") plus $7M plus two decent prospects in Branson Moss and Craig Hansen for..... Jason Bay??
Bay's a good hitter (career 130 OPS+) but his career high OPS+ is lower than Manny's average.
I can't believe I'm saying this either, but Bay's defense will make Sox fans reminisce about the days of Manny the Butcher in left. Bay is terrible defensively.
Now, Bay is under contract for another season at a reasonable $7.5M, but this almost seems like a desperation move. Did the Sox really need to include two prospects with Ramirez to get this done?
The best part for LA is that Manny has agreed to decline arbitration, guaranteeing the Dodgers two first round picks whether or not he re-signs with the club.
This makes the Dodgers better of course, but why they're dealing for yet another overpriced outfielder without jettisoning one of their own (of course, the Jones and Pierre contracts would force LA to eat most of the contracts) is beyond me.
Great deal for LA, even if their outfield is overcrowded, great deal for the Pirates who seem to have finally moved beyond the Dave Littlefield mantra of asking way too much for his veterans and thus not dealing them at the deadline and re-stocking, and a terrible move for the Red Sox in 2008.
At least Joe Torre gets to go back to his old favorite habit of benching young talent in exchange for "proven veterans" again.
If anyone needs an example of why Cashman doesn't get enough credit for his great moves, take a look up north and look at the alternative "genius."
I'll end this post with perhaps the most observant thing Ramirez has ever said:
"The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy. I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don't deserve me. I'm not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don't have peace here."
Yes, Manny's gotten a pass for years from the media in Beantown for things that would get Alex Rodriguez hung by his nuts in Central Park, but this does seem like another case of the Boston media in conjunction with Red Sox management (who share ownership with a certain Boston paper) running a guy down in the press to make the team look good.Labels: dodgers, manny being manny, pirates, redsox, trades, trading deadline
posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 3:10 PM
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3 Comments:
spot on. one thing you may have forgotten though: the sox are also paying manny's $7M for the remainder of the season.
manny + $7M + moss + hansen for jason bay.
ouch.
the press here in boston will not say that theo did a great job, but blame manny. that is the new thing to do here.
Did the Sox really need to include two prospects with Ramirez to get this done? + the salary trim
def headscratcher. the only thing i could come up with was: intended as an insult, a kick-in-the-pants-out-the-door kinda thing to manny. fuck you very much, this (sorry, Jason Bay) is all what we think you're worth, etc.
Jeff, I mentioned the $7M, but with revenue streams like Boston has, I really didn't think that was a major issue. Teams like Boston and the two New York teams should be able to include cash considerations into a deal in order to get back more talent - which the Sox didn't get in this deal. It just boggles the mind.
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