Forget it, Get Rid of Manny
Here is what may be the last picture of Manny Ramirez taking left field in Fenway Park (with a Sox uniform on at least)
I have been one of the biggest don’t trade Manny advocates for quite some time. You see, my basic argument is that no matter what Manny says or does, he will still perform and play well and that the value of his two option years which can be exercised one at a time, was one of the best deals out there.
I mean, who could you possibly get from a team that actually wants Manny that would be an adequate replacement? Well, Theo and the boys have impressed me, becuase it looks like if Manny does go anywhere, it will be to Pittsburgh for Jason Bay!
The Pirates will then flipp him to Florida for some of their prospects and Jeremy Hermidia. It looks like the Sox may also be able to pry John Grabow, a (semi) solid left-handed relief pitcher from Pitt, though I’m sure Florida will be asking for him too and I’m not sure the Sox have enough leverage to change that as they are essentially the team driving this deal.
I really didn’t think the Pirates would want to trade Bay, as he and Nate McClouth are a pair of outfielders that they can really build an offense around. But this is the Pirates, who are perennial losers, so it may make sense to trade Bay before they have to give him a new contract, which would be after next year (though the Sox would probably try to extend him this off season assuming all goes well).
Bay is probably one of the only guys who can even come close to replacing Manny. I’ll wait on doing any in depth analysis of him becuase I don’t want to count my chickens while they remain in a pre-hatched state, but suffice it to say we’d all probably be pretty happy with Bay.
Plus, think of all the funny headlines people will be writing with a guy named Bay playing in the Bay State!
Stumble it!