There’s a ton of guys in Southern California who love collecting Red Sox memorabilia. For instance, did you hear the one about the parking lot magnate that managed to put Derek Lowe, Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez in the same clubhouse? SI.com’s Jon Heyman reports after morning developments had Mets fans cursing the prospect of Ramirez turning up in the NL East, it turns out the left-fielder will soon be trading barbs with T.J. Simers. While the offensively-challenged Dodgers can rush their Manny/Lt. Dangle tees into production, Pittsburgh will send Jason Bay to the Red Sox, with Heyman citing 4 minor leaguers going to the Pirates (though he’s not yet specified which players, nor what organization they’re coming from, Boston or LA).
I can only pray I’m watching the TV the first time Manny runs through one of Larry Bowa’s stop signs.
(UPDATE : The Globe’s David Lefort reports Pittsburgh receives the recently demoted IF Andy LaRoche and P Bryan Morris from the Dodgers, pitchers Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss from the Red Sox. If this station had their own version of Joe Benigno-Gazingo instead of the syndicated Dan Patrick, he’d be yelling about signing Barry Bonds).
“…broken here on ESPNews’s the Hot List,” Linda Cohn just (falsely) claimed.”
Good deal for the Dodgers – a third baseman they don’t need, minor league pitcher and Boston pays balance of Man Ram’s salary for rest of year. Did Coletti actually make a good deal? Someone revive me . . .
it’s not a bad deal for Pittsburgh, either.
with all the talk on the idiot box today about Florida and the Dodgers trying so hard to land a moody, lousy-fielding HOF slugger, I wonder if Barry Bonds was watching ESPN News.
It seems okay for everyone but the Red Sox, unless you’re into the addition-by-subtraction argument to an extreme I’m not. I guess I just can’t really believe Manny’s that big a butthead, although the tape of him loafing to first base certainly strongly implies it. Bay’s had a fine season, though, and I guess is a good return. Ditto for the Dodgers, who seem to have given up astonishingly little for a still-productive Hall of Famer. But of course, because they suck, the Pirates’ side of things interests me most.
I guess Andrew McCutchen is supposed to be the real deal, and will eventually take Bay’s place minus a few homers and plus a few steals. But overall, the return for them seems kind of weak: LaRoche is reunited with his brother and could yet become a real, first-rank talent; he seems like the best young player in the deal, and the Pirates are not displacing much by handing him that job. Hansen looks like a middle-reliever with a ceiling of…being a somewhat above-average middle reliever. Bryan Morris (who is not named Brian Moss) is a first-rounder from 2006 who’s in A-ball, has had Tommy John surgery by age 21, and is a long way from the bigs. Thus, a perfect fit for the Bucs. And Brandon Moss is a middling outfield prospect. Doesn’t really move me, but I guess that team isn’t necessarily going to lose 100 games without some tinkering, right?
Also, imagine living in a world in which any stories were “broken on ESPN’s The Hot List?”
…”I can only pray I’m watching the TV the first time Manny runs through one of Larry Bowa’s stop signs”…
I was thinking the same thing… I am as pleased as the next Phils and Mets fan that Ramirez isnt going to Florida and really, the addition of Manny still doesnt make the Dodgers a scary lineup.
Don’t forget that His Man-Ramness is going to a pitcher’s park where he will have to patrol a bigger LF than he’s used to. I see him taking himself out a lot to ‘rest his knees.’ And, anyway, it’s not like he has a ton of protection in that lineup, unless of course you count Mr. Juan Pierre. Can’t wait to see the first time the dude rubs Dangle the wrong way. Actually, I would pay to watch that. Dodger fans are passive as hell so they probably won’t so much as whimper out a protest. Sports radio on the local stations out there is about as soft as you can get. Paul DePodesta is snortling in his mother’s basement, again.
I remember reading many blogs/boards after Nomar got traded and all of the Cubs nerds felt like they had just fleeced the shit out of the Sox. I think we know who got the last laugh. I don’t even remember who the Twins got. Most teams never know when to let go of an iconic player but the Sox absolutely do. Pedro, Nomar, Johnny, Derek, um Millar…
That member of MENSA Bill Plaschke was on ESPN loudly repeating “what am I missing?!?” (you’re missing plenty, Mr. P, because you apparently have no idea what has transpired over the past several years when Manny takes himself out of games against good pitchers, fakes injuries, and fails to run out anything hit in the infield) implying that Man-Ram was automatically making the Dodgers contenders despite the fact that he’s only a two-month fucking rental. Steve Phillips also got torn a brand new asshole last night by Peter Gammons after absolutely refusing to believe that trading Manny would be a good thing for the Sox. I kinda rest my case.
I actually don’t think either of the big teams did very well, but the Pirates got a ton of prospects for a guy that was going to leave sometime next summer anyway. Parity, dudes.
Linda Cohn asked Gammons today (and I’m paraphrasing) “what have the last two weeks done to the game of baseball?”, ie. Manny taking games off and not running out grounders was the biggest blow to the game’s integrity since the black sox scandal.
If this means an improvement in Terry Francona’s health (“he’s lost 15 pounds this month” insisted Gammons), hip hip hooray, but I think there’s a slight element of exaggeration in the Red Sox and Peter Gammons totally burying Ramirez on his way out of town. He didn’t exactly turn into a shitty teammate overnight.
The Boston media always kicks you on your way out, I’m not saying that’s not true. I just won’t know that this trade was bad for the Sox (or good for the Dodgers for that matter) until I see the respective players play for their new teams. I can actually wait until at least Sept. 1st before I proclaim anyone ‘winners’ or ‘losers.’ I invoke the Nomar situation because at the time even I thought that Theo had made a horrific mistake. If the Manny trade winds up being good for the Sox, I can’t imagine that anyone in the MSM will admit that they were wrong (especially Steve Phillips who keeps running his mouth like it’s his job to…oh, wait).
BTW, Jon Heyman was on SNY on that Daily News program and he thinks that a)the Dodgers got the steal of the century, b)The Sox did pretty well and c)”the Pirates got a bunch of nobodys”
Wasn’t LaRoche a big-time 3B prospect? And if Hansen ever works out his mechanics I certainly wouldn’t count him out of being a really good closer or great set-up man. I’d also say that Brandon Moss is probably closer to Trot Nixon than Jason Bay, but he has pop and righties suffer a little bit in that park in Pittsburgh because of the dimensions. Moss could be a good everyday LF for them. Manny is a two-month rental, Mr. Heyman. You pitch around him and you can probably get the other 8 out pretty easily. I just don’t understand everyone’s reaction to this trade.
I was reminded recently of how horrible a GM Omar Minaya is/was when I realized who the Expos gave up for the rental of Bartolo Colon back in the day. They gave up Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee. These trades can’t really be properly evaluated (the ones involving a lot of minor leaguers) right this very second. That’s my frustration with both MSM (people like Heyman and Plaschke and Phillips) and bloggers. How can anybody possibly say the Pirates got hosed yet?!?!?