Roughly two days after CC Sabathia agreed to terms on a monstrous contract, A.J. Burnett swooped in and received a huge payday from the recession-proof Yankees.
The Angels and Red Sox will score a lot of runs, while the absence of a dominant starter for the White Sox could be the difference.
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Manny Ramirez has helped the Red Sox win two World Series titles and should have had his number twenty-four retired when he eventually retired, as a member of the club.
But the divorce came swiftly after many thoughts of separation over the years, and the Red Sox gave up a lot to get rid of Ramirez three months earlier than they could have had they not picked up their 2009 option on the slugger.
They will pay the remainder of Manny’s 2008 salary ($7 million) and also send Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to unload him and receive Jason Bay in return.
Bay is a good player, ranked 41st in season FIC, but he isn’t Manny Ramirez. He isn’t playoff-tested and he isn’t Boston-tested, but he also won’t spark a ‘Jason Being Jason’ catchphrase across New England.
He has an .894 OPS this season, which is just about his career average of .890. He was excellent in 2005 and 2006, struggled last season with a .745 OPS and a slew of injuries, but has rebounded this year although much of his damage was done during the month of May.
With the presence of the Rays and Yankees, Boston will need to struggle to even make the postseason. Manny behaved like a petulant child over the past month. But they called his bluff, and a contract year, he would have been wise enough to reel it in.
The Red Sox aren't to blame in the breakdown, but much of what Manny said in his criticisms of the way they treat their players has resonance.
These are situations that have become relatively extinct with the Yankees and more commonplace (Nomar, Pedro) for Boston.
Grade for Boston: C-
The Dodgers’ outfield logjam becomes even more crowded now that they have Ramirez, but they get him without adding to their payroll, and the loss of Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris is insignificant.
Manny will send Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones to the bench for most of the remaining of the season, which in and of itself gives them a huge upgrade.
Agent Scott Boras will surely explain to Manny that while he did find his way out of Boston, he did so with a few dents in his seemingly Teflonesque armour. Even though he’s exchanged the microscopes of Fenway for the sunglasses of Chavez Ravine, he must play hard and produce on a nightly basis.
Plopping Manny down into the slowest division race in baseball makes the Dodgers the best team (at least on paper) in the NL West. He gives them a gravitas that improves that lineup on both sides of his clean up position.
Grade for Dodgers: A
The Pirates part ways with Bay a year and a third earlier than they would have had they let him leave via free agency. They save some money which helps them sign Pedro Alvarez.
LaRoche and Hansen were once top prospects, but the markets on both players are now decidedly more bearish.
LaRoche is hitting .203 with a .322 slugging percentage, but getting a chance to play everyday could allow him to finally get comfortable in the bigs.
Hansen has a 5.58 ERA in 32 appearances this season, and he has good strikeout rates but hasn’t found the kind of consistency to make him a reliable reliever.
Moss is a fourth outfielder who has an .804 career OPS despite playing sparingly.
Morris has a 3.40 ERA in 76+ innings in Single-A and is several years away from the bigs, if he ever makes it.
If they use the saved money wisely, then this will turn out to be a pivotal trade for the club, but better prospects could have possibly been had from Tampa Bay.
