2008 MLB Season

[Waffles]

I don't know what makes me happier...that Farnsworth is gone, or that Molina won't be the everyday catcher for the rest of the season.

[TFoA]

Considering Posada's not gonna be playing C, good pickup for the Yanks, IMO.

[CMUBrent]

Not much of a trade for the Tigers. I'm not sure that Farnsworth is the answer (though he can't be any worse than Todd Jones or Fernando Rodney), and with Pudge gone, the Tigers have a starting catcher who's lucky to be batting north of .200.

I hope something else is in the works.

[speedy]

Farnsworth???? That's ALL the Tigers asked for? The Yanks surely would've given up a little bit more due to their present catching situation. Not the best of deals Detroit, yet again.

[w00tness]

I honestly would have thought that the Tigers could have gotten just a bit more for Ivan (and that's coming from a Sox fan). Granted, Rodriguez is up there in the age-department, he's still one of the best in the game, and he's been pretty hot lately. All in all, I think the Yankees are the winners in this trade, and I'm guessing this'll come back to bite the Tigers in the ass later on in the season. Not that I have a problem with that, of course.

Good trade by the Yankees.

[speedy]

Via Peter Gammons....

The Marlins may be about to make a huge splash, as they seem to be the team in most serious discussions about disgruntled Boston outfielder Manny Ramirez. The deal would be for outfielder Jeremy Hermida and prospects, and would certainly strengthen the one-dimensional Marlins offense for the stretch run. But apparently the fact that Florida and Philadelphia have pursued Ramirez isn't enough to prod Mets ownership into signing off on the run Omar Minaya would like to make at him.

Interesting stuff here, although Hermida projects as a .300 guys with between 20-30 HR's in the AL I still can't agree with this deal. It seems like the F.O. is just dumping off Manny to get rid of him. No matter how detached he is from reality, he still realizes this is a contract year for him. Boras is telling him to play his ass off for the next 2+ months here and then sign a monster deal somewhere else. For once, I agree with Scott Boras.

EDIT: The Sox have also joined the Bay sweepstakes, possibly using the prospects from the Manny/Hermida deal to aquire him? Not bad afterall...

[averyj]

Dodger pitcher Jason Johnson comes back out of nowhere and throws six innings for a five-hit shutout against the Giants.

Chan Ho Park and Jonathan Broxton give up no hits in relief.

Decent win.

[gingerbreadmann]

Yeah, WEEI (Sean McAdam of the ProJo) reports that the Red Sox are in serious talks with Florida. Seriously, I want no part of Hermida or Bay at all, not when it involves giving up Manny. Give me Hanley, Maybin, or nothing.

Also, WTF was Detroit thinking? Are the Yankees going to just sit around all day and acquire impact players for nothing? Kyle Farnsworth, really? Gahhh.

So Theo, take Cashman's lead, go trade Alex Cora for A.J. Burnett or Will Ohman. Go!

[w00tness]

Interesting stuff here, although Hermida projects as a .300 guys with between 20-30 HR's in the AL I still can't agree with this deal. It seems like the F.O. is just dumping off Manny to get rid of him. No matter how detached he is from reality, he still realizes this is a contract year for him. Boras is telling him to play his ass off for the next 2+ months here and then sign a monster deal somewhere else. For once, I agree with Scott Boras.

EDIT: The Sox have also joined the Bay sweepstakes, possibly using the prospects from the Manny/Hermida deal to aquire him? Not bad afterall...

That's actually quite interesting. I was watching First Take earlier today, and Skip Bayless was saying how the Red Sox could trade Manny to the Marlins, but he thought it would be for Hanley Ramirez. Honestly, I don't think Manny is going anywhere. It's basically the same story every season, and although it's a different story this season, I still don't see it happening. It certainly won't happen for just "Jeremy Hermida and prospects".

[Yankeefan38]

Thank God Kyle Farnsworth is gone, I have to say the Tigers got robbed on this trade. Smart move on the Yankees.

[Gary]

I wouldn't say the Tigers got robbed, from what i've been reading on other sites, the Tigers were trying to get rid of Pudge for any kind of relief. They were going to move Inge to the catcher position to give more room for their offense. I kind of like the move as only they got rid of some money and age in the process

[Yankeefan38]

That is true they were looking to improve there bullpen but if I wanted to improve my bullpen I wouldn't of went with Kyle Farnsworth.

[speedy]

Yeah, WEEI (Sean McAdam of the ProJo) reports that the Red Sox are in serious talks with Florida. Seriously, I want no part of Hermida or Bay at all, not when it involves giving up Manny. Give me Hanley, Maybin, or nothing.

Also, WTF was Detroit thinking? Are the Yankees going to just sit around all day and acquire impact players for nothing? Kyle Farnsworth, really? Gahhh.

So Theo, take Cashman's lead, go trade Alex Cora for A.J. Burnett or Will Ohman. Go!

Hanley Ramirez goes nowhere. No chance. The Marlins may not have the money to resign him, although if they're trying to trade for Manny I think they'll fork over the necessary cash to keep Hanley around. Anyway, how does a Hanley/Manny deal help us at all? Sure it solves out SS dilema but it severely weakens the outfield. Crisp, Ellsbury, and Drew is not a WS caliber outfield.

And no part of Bay? Really? I'd like to hear your reasoning here. He's rebounded very nicely from his 2007 debacle, back to his usual form. He projects as a solid .295/30-35 HR a year guy. Christ, if all it took was prospects from the Marlins to get the deal done than pull that trigger Theo. Essentially Manny for Hermida/Bay is a fantastic deal. That leaves an odd man out, again, Crisp. Not much of a market for his skills (see: Lofton, Kenny) but still, toss him in with Bowden and go after Tejada for a 1 year stop gap until Lowrie is officially ready to take over. This leaves the Lugo/Cora concoction of :censored:y play that some teams would take for a reliever. That I feel is the ideal situation for the Sox, will it play out like that? Noooooo.

EDIT: Royals offering the Sox Ron Mahay. Brandon Moss possibly the man going to KC if this deal pans out.

DOUBLE EDIT: First this tid bit from Channel 5 News, VERY interesting...

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox plan to pick up Manny Ramirez's $20 million option and will try to trade him in November, unless the team is blown away by a blockbuster offer before the deadline.

Sources told SportsCenter 5's Mike Lynch that the Sox will try to prevent Ramirez from signing with the New York Yankees or another rival as a free agent.

And then this... Via John Perrotto

Multipe baseball sources say the Red Sox are on the verge of sending disgrunted left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Marlins in a trade for a package of three players that included low Class A Greensboro outfielder Mike Stanton, an 18-year-old who is hitting .275/.351/.569 with 26 home runs in 96 games.

[gingerbreadmann]

Yeah, WEEI (Sean McAdam of the ProJo) reports that the Red Sox are in serious talks with Florida. Seriously, I want no part of Hermida or Bay at all, not when it involves giving up Manny. Give me Hanley, Maybin, or nothing.

Also, WTF was Detroit thinking? Are the Yankees going to just sit around all day and acquire impact players for nothing? Kyle Farnsworth, really? Gahhh.

So Theo, take Cashman's lead, go trade Alex Cora for A.J. Burnett or Will Ohman. Go!

Hanley Ramirez goes nowhere. No chance. The Marlins may not have the money to resign him, although if they're trying to trade for Manny I think they'll fork over the necessary cash to keep Hanley around. Anyway, how does a Hanley/Manny deal help us at all? Sure it solves out SS dilema but it severely weakens the outfield. Crisp, Ellsbury, and Drew is not a WS caliber outfield.

And no part of Bay? Really? I'd like to hear your reasoning here. He's rebounded very nicely from his 2007 debacle, back to his usual form. He projects as a solid .295/30-35 HR a year guy. Christ, if all it took was prospects from the Marlins to get the deal done than pull that trigger Theo. Essentially Manny for Hermida/Bay is a fantastic deal. That leaves an odd man out, again, Crisp. Not much of a market for his skills (see: Lofton, Kenny) but still, toss him in with Bowden and go after Tejada for a 1 year stop gap until Lowrie is officially ready to take over. This leaves the Lugo/Cora concoction of :censored:y play that some teams would take for a reliever. That I feel is the ideal situation for the Sox, will it play out like that? Noooooo.

EDIT: Royals offering the Sox Ron Mahay. Brandon Moss possibly the man going to KC if this deal pans out.

DOUBLE EDIT: First this tid bit from Channel 5 News, VERY interesting...

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox plan to pick up Manny Ramirez's $20 million option and will try to trade him in November, unless the team is blown away by a blockbuster offer before the deadline.

Sources told SportsCenter 5's Mike Lynch that the Sox will try to prevent Ramirez from signing with the New York Yankees or another rival as a free agent.

And then this... Via John Perrotto

Multipe baseball sources say the Red Sox are on the verge of sending disgrunted left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Marlins in a trade for a package of three players that included low Class A Greensboro outfielder Mike Stanton, an 18-year-old who is hitting .275/.351/.569 with 26 home runs in 96 games.

Yeah, I was joking/dreaming about Hanley. Of course he's not going anywhere. But to answer your question, that opens up a spot for Crisp and Jacoby to play center and left, so we get the plus defense(and on offense it's like trading Lugo for Crisp, not exactly worse) and Hanley's better-than-Manny's-arguably bat at short while he's not terribly worse than Lugo with the glove. Or, as I have heard many places, he's so bad at short he will like more to OF at sometime. Stick him in left, he's probably as good as Manny. Then Lowrie can develop.

I want no part of Bay because he's on the tail of his prime, has shown inconsistency, and the main reason is he has never played in the AL. I'm not willing to wait a year until he's 32 or 33 for him to get productive.

I don't want to trade Manny this season, I mean Jeremy Hermida in his place? Please. And really, seriously, Crisp and Bowden for Tejada? This just in, Tejada's actually 34 and he sucks. Like worse than Lugo. It's like trading 2 guys for another guy who is older and worse than both of them. Just awful. Thank God he's off the market.

I like that first option Lynch described. Players named Mike Stanton make me quiver. Unless it's him and Hermida, or better, Maybin, I'm not even close to being comfortable with that deal.

And yeah I heard about the Mahay proposal earlier. God, please just take it because Moss is useless to us. Unless you can get Ohman for him.

[njmeadowlanders]

Not only is Hanley Ramirez going nowhere, but didn't the Marlins sign him to something in the neighborhood of $72 Million or so back in April?

[speedy]

Yeah, I was joking/dreaming about Hanley. Of course he's not going anywhere. But to answer your question, that opens up a spot for Crisp and Jacoby to play center and left, so we get the plus defense(and on offense it's like trading Lugo for Crisp, not exactly worse) and Hanley's better-than-Manny's-arguably bat at short while he's not terribly worse than Lugo with the glove. Or, as I have heard many places, he's so bad at short he will like more to OF at sometime. Stick him in left, he's probably as good as Manny. Then Lowrie can develop.

I want no part of Bay because he's on the tail of his prime, has shown inconsistency, and the main reason is he has never played in the AL. I'm not willing to wait a year until he's 32 or 33 for him to get productive.

I don't want to trade Manny this season, I mean Jeremy Hermida in his place? Please. And really, seriously, Crisp and Bowden for Tejada? This just in, Tejada's actually 34 and he sucks. Like worse than Lugo. It's like trading 2 guys for another guy who is older and worse than both of them. Just awful. Thank God he's off the market.

I like that first option Lynch described. Players named Mike Stanton make me quiver. Unless it's him and Hermida, or better, Maybin, I'm not even close to being comfortable with that deal.

And yeah I heard about the Mahay proposal earlier. God, please just take it because Moss is useless to us. Unless you can get Ohman for him.

Hanleys bat better than Manny's!? No. Just no. There is not one person in the major leagues I would chose to get a hit in any situation if I need a hit than Manny Ramirez. Yikes.

This just in, Tejada as a one year gap type player until Lowrie is ready is exactly what the Red Sox need. Who cares if he's 34.. which like I said earlier he's probably 36-37. After going over the stats and thinking about it some more I would LOVE for the Sox to pull off a Tejada trade aslong as Manny isn't involved. And he sucks worse than Lugo? PLEASE. That is, I think, the most outlandish statement I have ever read.

As for Bay, inconsistent? I think not. Besides, he's only 29.. I don't know why you're talking about waiting 3-4 years for him to be productive? Hmm. But anyway, let's take a closer look at his stats...

2004: 26 HR's / 82 RBI's - .282/.358/.550 In 102 games.

2005: 32 HR's / 101 RBI's - .306/.402/.559

2006: 35 HR's / 109 RBI's - .286/.396/.532

2007: 21 HR's / 84 RBI's - .247/.327/.418 An off year.

2008: 22 HR's / 62 RBI's - .284/.377/.523 Through 105 games.

I think it's pretty clear what you're getting with Bay, who still has atleast 3/4 years left on this pace.. like I said earlier, a 30-35 HR Guy whos going to bat atleast .285, maybe even .295. Not much to complain about there.

Also, you seem not to realize we're talking about Theo here. He's not going to pull the trigger on the Manny deal UNLESS he has a 3rd option which would be the Bay deal. It's how he operates. So like I said, Bay/Hermida for Manny is a no brainer.

[Yankeefan38]

Not only is Hanley Ramirez going nowhere, but didn't the Marlins sign him to something in the neighborhood of $72 Million or so back in April?

Somthing around there thats a good reason why Hanley Ramirez shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Brass]

Yeah, WEEI (Sean McAdam of the ProJo) reports that the Red Sox are in serious talks with Florida. Seriously, I want no part of Hermida or Bay at all, not when it involves giving up Manny. Give me Hanley, Maybin, or nothing.

Also, WTF was Detroit thinking? Are the Yankees going to just sit around all day and acquire impact players for nothing? Kyle Farnsworth, really? Gahhh.

So Theo, take Cashman's lead, go trade Alex Cora for A.J. Burnett or Will Ohman. Go!

Hanley Ramirez goes nowhere. No chance. The Marlins may not have the money to resign him, although if they're trying to trade for Manny I think they'll fork over the necessary cash to keep Hanley around. Anyway, how does a Hanley/Manny deal help us at all? Sure it solves out SS dilema but it severely weakens the outfield. Crisp, Ellsbury, and Drew is not a WS caliber outfield.

And no part of Bay? Really? I'd like to hear your reasoning here. He's rebounded very nicely from his 2007 debacle, back to his usual form. He projects as a solid .295/30-35 HR a year guy. Christ, if all it took was prospects from the Marlins to get the deal done than pull that trigger Theo. Essentially Manny for Hermida/Bay is a fantastic deal. That leaves an odd man out, again, Crisp. Not much of a market for his skills (see: Lofton, Kenny) but still, toss him in with Bowden and go after Tejada for a 1 year stop gap until Lowrie is officially ready to take over. This leaves the Lugo/Cora concoction of :censored:y play that some teams would take for a reliever. That I feel is the ideal situation for the Sox, will it play out like that? Noooooo.

EDIT: Royals offering the Sox Ron Mahay. Brandon Moss possibly the man going to KC if this deal pans out.

DOUBLE EDIT: First this tid bit from Channel 5 News, VERY interesting...

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox plan to pick up Manny Ramirez's $20 million option and will try to trade him in November, unless the team is blown away by a blockbuster offer before the deadline.

Sources told SportsCenter 5's Mike Lynch that the Sox will try to prevent Ramirez from signing with the New York Yankees or another rival as a free agent.

And then this... Via John Perrotto

Multipe baseball sources say the Red Sox are on the verge of sending disgrunted left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Marlins in a trade for a package of three players that included low Class A Greensboro outfielder Mike Stanton, an 18-year-old who is hitting .275/.351/.569 with 26 home runs in 96 games.

Yeah, I was joking/dreaming about Hanley. Of course he's not going anywhere. But to answer your question, that opens up a spot for Crisp and Jacoby to play center and left, so we get the plus defense(and on offense it's like trading Lugo for Crisp, not exactly worse) and Hanley's better-than-Manny's-arguably bat at short while he's not terribly worse than Lugo with the glove. Or, as I have heard many places, he's so bad at short he will like more to OF at sometime. Stick him in left, he's probably as good as Manny. Then Lowrie can develop.

I want no part of Bay because he's on the tail of his prime, has shown inconsistency, and the main reason is he has never played in the AL. I'm not willing to wait a year until he's 32 or 33 for him to get productive.

I don't want to trade Manny this season, I mean Jeremy Hermida in his place? Please. And really, seriously, Crisp and Bowden for Tejada? This just in, Tejada's actually 34 and he sucks. Like worse than Lugo. It's like trading 2 guys for another guy who is older and worse than both of them. Just awful. Thank God he's off the market.

I like that first option Lynch described. Players named Mike Stanton make me quiver. Unless it's him and Hermida, or better, Maybin, I'm not even close to being comfortable with that deal.

And yeah I heard about the Mahay proposal earlier. God, please just take it because Moss is useless to us. Unless you can get Ohman for him.

With the stats about the Bay situation, speedy already took you to school, so I won't even go there.

First, from your attitude, I highly doubt that you would want Hanley Ramirez to play left. First off, he's had experience at the SS position for a while and changing him now would just ruin his development. The second reason is because it's very hard to play left at Fenway. You need to have tremendous knowledge of the wall and at which directions in certain spots that the ball hits off of. Sure, you're calling for him to play LF, but I guarantee if this were to happen he started to make errors because of his lack of experience with the wall, you would be back posting in here and complaining about Francona. Simple as that.

On second thought, I will go to the Bay situation one more time. You say he's on the "tail of his prime." So was another current Red Sox third baseman and he turned out ok....

As for Tejada, I wouldn't trade Bowden, because I have a really good feeling about the kid, but if Houston wanted Crisp and someone like Daniel Bard, then I would do it in a heartbeat. Release or trade and eat a huge portion of Lugo's contract and just wait for Lowrie, who's a stud prospect.

As for Moss. You couldn't be farther from the truth. Moss is actually a great clutch hitter and has shown that on numerous occasions this year. He's useless to you because he's 5th on the Sox outfield depth chart right, when he could easily be playing everyday.

And stop complaining about Alex Cora. Sorry that the Red Sox backups aren't All Stars.

[gingerbreadmann]

^ Yes, I do realize that Hanley's not going anywhere (yankeesfan).

Hanleys bat better than Manny's!? No. Just no. There is not one person in the major leagues I would chose to get a hit in any situation if I need a hit than Manny Ramirez. Yikes.

This just in, Tejada as a one year gap type player until Lowrie is ready is exactly what the Red Sox need. Who cares if he's 34.. which like I said earlier he's probably 36-37. After going over the stats and thinking about it some more I would LOVE for the Sox to pull off a Tejada trade as long as Manny isn't involved. And he sucks worse than Lugo? PLEASE. That is, I think, the most outlandish statement I have ever read.

As for Bay, inconsistent? I think not. Besides, he's only 29.. I don't know why you're talking about waiting 3-4 years for him to be productive? Hmm. But anyway, let's take a closer look at his stats...

2004: 26 HR's / 82 RBI's - .282/.358/.550

2005: 32 HR's / 101 RBI's - .306/.402/.559

2006: 35 HR's / 109 RBI's - .286/.396/.532

2007: 21 HR's / 84 RBI's - .247/.327/.418 An off year.

2008: 22 HR's / 62 RBI's - .284/.377/.523 Through 105 games.

I think it's pretty clear what you're getting with Bay, who still has atleast 3/4 years left on this pace.. like I said earlier, a 30-35 HR Guy whos going to bat atleast .285, maybe even .295. Not much to complain about there.

Also, you seem not to realize we're talking about Theo here. He's not going to pull the trigger on the Manny deal UNLESS he has a 3rd option which would be the Bay deal. It's how he operates. So like I said, Bay/Hermida for Manny is a no brainer.

You are correct, I would never under any circumstances for Hanley to bat for Manny. But keep in mind Manny is declining, Hanley is 24, steadily improving, and super fast. Then look at this page and sift through the charts. Is Manny really that much better right now?

Outlandish, really? Let's do a little Player A/Player B action here.

Since May 1st,

Player A has hit .264/.302/.378/.680.

Player B has hit .260/.371/.340/.711.

Whowouldathunkit, Lugo's been out-hitting Tejada over the last 3 months. Tejada's obviously better at defense but this is essentially moot. Lugo even had one month (June) where he was an above-average hitter. Plus he is younger.

So you still want to trade Bowden for a one-year-overpaid filler player who sucks more than(or just as much as) Lugo? What's the point? (lol, and as I type this Crisp hits a 2-run shot)

I admit, I misread Bay's DOB and I thought he was 31. But the point remains, like you say Hanley is far worse than Manny, Bay is probably about the same. And I still don't want to wait a year for him to acclimate and take a chance he will have another 2007. It may be a small chance, but even if it doesn't happen there's no way he replaces Manny. I like him more than Hermida but he is no Manuel Ramirez. Neither of them are. Far, far, far from a no-brainer.

Edit: I'll respond to 20:36 here in a few minutes.

With the stats about the Bay situation, speedy already took you to school, so I won't even go there.

First, from your attitude, I highly doubt that you would want Hanley Ramirez to play left. First off, he's had experience at the SS position for a while and changing him now would just ruin his development. The second reason is because it's very hard to play left at Fenway. You need to have tremendous knowledge of the wall and at which directions in certain spots that the ball hits off of. Sure, you're calling for him to play LF, but I guarantee if this were to happen he started to make errors because of his lack of experience with the wall, you would be back posting in here and complaining about Francona. Simple as that.

On second thought, I will go to the Bay situation one more time. You say he's on the "tail of his prime." So was another current Red Sox third baseman and he turned out ok....

As for Tejada, I wouldn't trade Bowden, because I have a really good feeling about the kid, but if Houston wanted Crisp and someone like Daniel Bard, then I would do it in a heartbeat. Release or trade and eat a huge portion of Lugo's contract and just wait for Lowrie, who's a stud prospect.

As for Moss. You couldn't be farther from the truth. Moss is actually a great clutch hitter and has shown that on numerous occasions this year. He's useless to you because he's 5th on the Sox outfield depth chart right, when he could easily be playing everyday.

And stop complaining about Alex Cora. Sorry that the Red Sox backups aren't All Stars.

No he didn't take me to school, I admitted my mistake.

First, I'm not calling for Hanley to play left. I'm willing(and I'd rather) to put him at short and hope he gets a little better, but if that doesn't happen there is a big likelihood he will move to left. In that case, I wouldn't be ecstatic but it shouldn't take him more than a year to learn the Wall. Manny learned it soon enough. I think left at Fenway is easier to play than center or right because you only have to learn the Wall(which isn't too hard) and there is very little ground to cover, in center you have the Triangle and the wall and in right you have the Pesky Pole/corner and wicked sun. I'm relatively sure Hanley would do fine in a relatively short time, and I won't be complaining unless he can't play there for is life, which I think is highly unlikely because there is a much higher chance of that happening at short and OF isn't terribly difficult, and Terry fails to realize this and keeps him there for like a year. But like I said, that would never happen.

So now Mike Lowell is as good as Manny? I admit, like I said, Bay is still in his prime. But if we're trading Manny Ramirez for Mike Lowell, that's not gonna go down well.

Eh, I'm not willing to trade Bard even. I'd rather wait a minimum of 3 years to judge a 1st-round pick, especially one who could contribute in the bullpen, which is a rarity. Like I said above, for Tejada, that's still not worth it. David Pauley maybe. But I wouldn't go higher than Crisp straight-up. And also I disagree with you (what else is new ) on Lowrie. I see him as not a stud, but more a Matt Murton-type infielder who will always be a utilityman and maybe occasional starter, maybe even for a few years. I don't think he is the answer long-term here or anywhere, but I could be wrong (I'd still like to see more of him) and that would be fine, because it would certainly be helpful. Have you heard of Argenis Diaz? If that kid can learn to hit respectably, he is Gold-Glove-type defensively right now and I'd like to see him get a shot.

Moss is useless to me because he has no future here. What, he was a clutch hitter on Opening Day in Japan? One or two other times, max? He is not a bad player but isn't good enough to be a consistent starter here, ever. The fact is, he will never play a big role here because we have too many good veterans above him and youngsters above and below him. Tell me who he will play instead of in the short and long future. You're right, he could be playing more in KC. Do the trade, everyone wins, including Moss.

All I ask is that the Red Sox backups be better than average AAAA players. Come on, what does he bring to the table? He can't hit OR field. The fact that he ever starts ahead of Jed is flabbergasting.

[Brass]

Yankees trade LaTroy Hawkins to the Astros for a prospect.