And gone. Manny Ramirez has finally (successfully) got himself traded away from the Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers were more than willing to take him off their hands. Now the only problems that Boston has to deal with are the surging Yankees, the first-place Rays (who didn’t improve at all at the deadline) and the fact that a first round date with the Angels may lead to the Red Sox Nation crying after three beat downs in the divisional series.
Manny will certainly help out the Dodgers who seem to have a team stocked with underachievers and guys who never fully live up to their potential. If Ramirez plays 3/4ths as well as he’s capable of, then the Dodgers will beat out the Diamondbacks for the NL West without a shadow of a doubt.
As for the Red Sox, replacing Man-Ram with mild-mannered Jason Bay will be a hit in the locker room but this guy has ZERO experience in any clutch situations. He’s played his entire career in Pittsburgh for Christ’s sake. Do you think for a second that Big Papi would see a pitch even remotely close with Bay behind him in the lineup? By trading away Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox took the punch out of their cleanup spot and took the bat of Ortiz’s hands since he doesn’t have any backup now. Right now, I wouldn’t be too happy if I had a futures bet on Boston winning the AL let alone the World Series.
And if you don’t see some irony in Manny Ramirez being coached by Joe Torre, well you don’t know funny.
Also, very unexpectedly, Ken Griffey Jr. was dealt to the White Sox. I don’t think anybody saw this trade coming and I’m not even sure if it really helps the Sox that much. Sure, Griffey is one of the all-time greats but the years haven’t been really kind to him. Playing in Comiskey Park will help out his power because the ball really flies when it’s humid out, but now, he’s over rated at best and really just a name addition. It will be funny to see how he and Ozzie Guillen get along though.