Trade Deadline Reactions

On Monday I said there was no way the Red Sox were trading Manny Ramirez. (Granted, this was before he kept on shooting off his mouth and talking about Brett Favre and all of that nonsense.) But I did say they wouldn't trade him. Well, I need to eat some crow because they traded him right before the deadline today to the Dodgers, as Scott mentioned in his posting below. But I am not going to rehash anything Scott has already written with more eloquence and knowledge than myself about Manny Ramirez. Read Scott's posting for Manny. I am writing to say that the Pittsburgh Pirates have made another bad trade. This was even worse than the Xavier Nady trade to the Yankees. Let's break it down:

1. The Pirates take on a bunch of junk from the Dodgers and the Red Sox. Spare parts.
2. Meanwhile the Red Sox get a good outfielder in Jason Bay with a good bat and they get rid of their headache.
3. The Dodgers get a superstar, albeit a nutty one. I'd say the Dodgers will likely make the playoffs now in their weak division with the addition of Manny. Then, they have existing club contract options to keep Manny another season or two before Scott Boras sells him to the highest bidder as a free agent. And better yet, the Red Sox are eating Manny's contract for the rest of this season.

Dodgers win. Red Sox win. Pirates lose.

Other quick notes...The Cubs today finish a four game sweep of their rivals, the Brewers, in a critical division series that seemed like playoff baseball. Jim Edmonds hits 2 home runs today including a grand slam and Rich Harden was strong on the mound, giving up only 1 run and recording 9 strikeouts. Ouch, if you are a Brewers fan. And for more on the best division race in baseball, go buy USA Today's Sports Weekly (July 30th-August 5th edition) and read Seth Livingstone's story on the NL Central race between the Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals on page 4.