Phew - the deadline wasn’t a complete dud
Let’s take a look at this monster deal. It looks like:
To the Red Sox; Jason Bay
To the Dodgers: Manny Ramirez, a lot of $
To the Pirates: 3B Andy LaRoche, RHRP Craig Hansen, OF Brandon Moss, RHSP Bryan Morris
So let’s look at this by team.
The Red Sox got rid of a giant headache in Manny Ramirez, which is worth quite a bit in itself. Ramirez is a slightly better hitter than Bay, but the difference isn’t huge. Bay is light years ahead of Manny defensively, plus he’s under control for next year at a bargain. ($7.5m). It seems that the goal of this trade for the Sox was to try to keep the status quo production-wise, while getting a much better fit for the team, and they’ve done that.
This is a great trade for the Dodgers. They traded only prospects, one of whom they had no interest in giving a shot to. (Laroche). You have to assume Manny will be taking over LF everyday to go with Kemp, Ethier and Jones in the OF, while Pierre never gets another PA. (One must hope). Then again, in this organization you could see Ethier and Kemp sent to High-A for the next two years or so. If the Dodgers manage this right, they have an absolutely huge improvement for the stretch run.
Finally, I think the Pirates also got what they wanted out of this trade. They shed plenty of salary and received some nice prospects. As we saw with the Nady/Marte trade, Huntington is looking more for quantity than quality at this point, since the Pirates system is quite barren. Brandon Moss should be just about an average corner outfielder, and a Moss-McCutchen-McLouth outfield for the foreseeable future isn’t bad. Not outstanding, but not bad. Craig Hansen’s had his troubles lately, with pretty bad showings in AAA last year and the majors this year. Still, he used to be a really dominating relief prospect, and a good AAA showing this year gives hope that he can be a decent bullpen arm in Pittsburgh for a while.
Bryan Morris was the Dodger’s first round pick in 2008. (Along with Clayton Kershaw). He missed 2007 due to TJS, and hasn’t been all that impressive since coming back. He’s got a good fastball and curve, and will be a reclamation for the Pirates.
Andy LaRoche! Andy freaking LaRoche. That part of the deal is what makes me so happy. I absolutely love him as a prospect, and have constantly been frustrated with the Dodger’s complete inability to realize what they have with him. The Pirates, except for Pedro Alvarez, don’t have anything noteworthy in terms of IF prospects. Now you’ll likely see LaRoche at 3B with Alvarez at 1B for a long time. The Pirates have really been excellent in terms of filling long-term holes all over the team.
It’s a three-team deal, and I really like this deal from everybody’s perspective. How often can you say that?
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