Manny

For years we`ve been hearing about possible Manny Ramirez trades and for years we`ve seen Manny stay put and continue to kill the Yankees. However, this time Manny is gone for real if only temporarily.

This trade was died and revived in more forms than I can count. Only a few hours before the deadline it looked like Manny was staying put and Bay was headed to Tampa. Ultimately a three way deal between Pittsburgh, Boston, and Los Angeles got it done. The only aspect that is really important to us is what Boston did.

Boston Gains: Jason Bay

Boston Loses: Manny Ramirez, Craig Hansen, Brandon Moss, and cash

Personally, I think that its a lot closer between Bay and Manny at this point than most people do. However, Manny is still the better player. Boston is also paying part of Manny's contract so their is little salary relief. Considering Bay is under contract for 2009 as well I would probably say Boston would have the slight advantage if it was Bay for Manny straight up. However, its not. Hansen isn't a huge deal for Boston but he does still have potential. Brandon Moss is probably a better prospect at this point (I may be wrong I`m going on memory and I don't know Boston's farm that well). I think this makes it a bad trade for the Red Sox. I realize they had to make it after Manny's comments but this seems like a desperate move Boston made that they may come to regret later.

Another side of this deal is that Bay was previously rumored to be going to the Rays. With this trade we only have to deal with one of them in the division. I think this helps the Yankees although its not as big a deal as some people are making it out to be.

Much Better

I only saw the first 5 innings or so and what stood out to me was Joba's brilliance in back to back. He`s slowly becoming the Yankees ace. Its been a long time since the Yankees have had a guy like Joba. I have no idea how his career will turn out but his future is looking bright. Tomorrow we`ll go against the Angels.

The Yankees also made a trade today. Farnsworth is going to the Tigers for Ivan Rodriguez. My intial reaction was bad but after looking over Farnsworth's stats more carefully I`m in favor of it. Farnsworth looks like he`s pulled things together and Girardi's gotten some credit for it. While some of this is true, Farnsworth has a 20% HR/FB%. This means that 20% of all his FB's go over the fence. The average pitcher gets about 10%. Although certain pitchers have displayed a skill at this most of it is luck and this year is a huge outlier for Farnsworth. Pudge is basically a wash defensively with Molina but Pudge is a much better hitter than Molina. Another issue is that Pudge will probably be a type A free agent while Farnsworth will be a type B. Pudge probably wants a long term deal so he probably wouldn't accept arbitration. This means the Yankees will probably get better draft picks for Pudge than for Farnsworth. This year has also shown has that the best way to build a bullpen is to just try out different young guys with talent and see what sticks. This solves 3 of the Yankees 4 goals for the offseason. Now I`d like to see them get one more starter. Strangely enough, I was actually mulling over the idea of trading Farnsworth this morning but never got a chance to write about it.

Now, I need to say something about the Mark Texiera deal. Although most people are ready to hand over the Pennant and World Series already I`m not. First of all, offense in the regular season doesn;t guarentee offense in the postseason. The Angels already have the division wrapped up so I don't see the point of this deal. They gave up a very good player in Kotchman as well.Unless it gives them an upper-hand in signing Texiera this off-season I don't see the point.

Schilling to miss 2008?

http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/newsblog/archives/2008/02/reports_red_sox.html

Now Santana to the Mets looks pretty good for the Yankees. Even more so than before. I really can't stand Schilling as I`ve said before and while I`m not quite happy he`s hurt I don't exactly feel sorry for him. Still, they`re going to have a good rotation. All this does is push Bucholz into the starting rotation.