See You Later

So much for today being a quiet off day for Boston. Coming off a sweep at home to the Angels and harsh words from Manny Ramirez saying that "Boston does not deserve a player like me," the Boston brass obliged and sent Manny packing in a three way deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Manny heads out to the West Coast to play in another league. Good luck Joe Torre. Never thought I'd say that. The Pirates will get two minor leaguers from the Sox in Brandon Moss and right handed pitcher Craig Hansen. LA will send Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates. The Sox will get Jason Bay from the Bucs.

Bay is a left fielder who will probably be able to actually play left field and bring some offense to the plate. The 2006 All-Star brings a career .281 average, 140 home runs and an .890 OPS to the Sox. It's not Manny, but I think it might do for the rest of the season. I guess the best question will be is if Manny did have a stranglehold on the the clubhouse and will this trade relieve some pressure and allow the Sox to get back to business. I guess time will tell.

All in all Manny had a great run in Boston. I loved him as a hitter, but that was about it. Having to answer for him as a fan was sort of a pain in the ass. "Manny being Manny" could only take you so far. He'll be missed from what he can produce from the dish, but I doubt he'll be missed for his antics. There are some noted Boston fans that have Sox blogs that will claim Manny was pushed out, but I don't believe the hype surrounding him being defaced to the fans so they (Epstein and company) wouldn't look like bad guys jettisoning a player who helped carry them to two World Series victories. Manny was never really the face of the franchise, as David Ortiz took over that role from Nomar when he was pushed out in 2004.

I remember posting some cut outs of Manny back in 2001 after the deal was made to bring him to Boston at my desk at work. I was incredibly pumped for him to come to Boston and make an impact against the competition and the Yankees mainly. It took a few years, but he was a big part of that run over the past few years. Little did I know the rest of the baggage he'd bring along with him. That I won't miss.

Oh, by the way some other American League teams are on the move before the trade deadline. The Angels traded for Mark Teixeria, the Yankees traded Kyle Farnsworth for Ivan Rodriguez (WTF???) and the White Sox traded for Ken Griffey Jr. While we were worried about getting rid of a headache, the rest of the top teams in the AL were looking for players to put them in position to win a World Series. Does this spell doom for the Sox to not make a serious playoff run? The next month will certainly be interesting.