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#1
08-01-2008, 10:00 AM
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PITTSBURGH PIRATES "Traded OF-R Jason Bay to the Red Sox; acquired 3B-R Andy LaRoche and RHP Bryan Morris from the Dodgers; acquired RHP Craig Hansen and 1B/OF-L Brandon Moss from the Red Sox; assigned Morris to Low-A Hickory; optioned MI-R Brian Bixler to Indianapolis (Triple-A); designated CF-L Chris Duffy and RHP Franquelis Osoria for assignment. [7/31] If the trade with the Yankees was a tentative sort of thing involving the exchange of veteran mediocrities for an off-blue, chambray sort of blue-chipper and three nondescript upper-level hurlers, and the sort of thing that might have caused alarm, Pirates fans can take solace in this deal. This time, Neal Huntington and company got two much better prospects, better than anything they got from the Yankees, not to mention a pair of useful-enough filler types for an organization that needs bodies in every shape and size. While it cost them Bay, it brought them their new best player on the team, because LaRoche will be an All-Star-caliber hitter at third base now that he's free of a Dodgers organization that wasn't treating him at all fairly. Morris is a nifty add as well, a 2006 first-rounder coming back from a 2007 Tommy John surgery who's done good work with the Loons in Low-A, flashing low- to mid-90s heat, a new sinker, an improved change, and a nasty curve. He's been on a workload almost as monitored and structured as Clayton Kershaw's in his comeback, averaging less than five innings per start, but with 72 strikeouts and 31 walks in 81 2/3 IP and a GB/FB ratio of 1.7, he's flashing a live arm, and as a 21-year-old stripling, that's something to take an interest in. The ballast from the Red Sox doesn't hurt, either. Hansen throws hard and heavy, and maybe an escape from the franchise that promoted him too aggressively will get the former St. John's closer his best shot at carving out a career for himself. Moss should make a nice enough fourth outfielder type on a team that should now be promoting Andrew McCutchen to take over in center, providing the pitching staff with the added benefit of getting a quality center fielder in place while shunting Nate McLouth to a corner and the defensive chores he's better equipped to deal with. Again, to recap, if getting Tabata was a matter of taking a chance, then getting LaRoche is a case of swapping out an expensive, aging outfielder for a quality everyday player just at the start of his big-league career at a position of organizational need. Morris may well be the second-best prospect he acquired between the two deals, they added some elements of cost control by shedding Bay's contract, and perhaps more fundamentally they addressed their defensive inadequacies by bringing in a better third baseman and making room for a better center fielder (once McCutchen's up). That's the sort of broad-stroke improvements you have to tip your cap to when they're achieved. Huntington warned people off about his not making deals just to make them over the winter—having made this trade, it was clearly worth the wait." 
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#2
08-01-2008, 10:08 AM
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Manny being Manny.
Watch him turn triples into singles...as a hitter---not an outfielder. Watch him turn singles into triples...as an outfielder---not a hitter. Watch him whizz.....in the outfield....not the clubhouse. Watch him look like a vacuum cleaner...in the clubhouse---not the outfield. e
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#3
08-01-2008, 01:06 PM
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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/column...son&id=3513865
From Espn: The eviction of Ramirez is a story with so many levels that it's impossible to sum them all up with a one-word label such as "winner" or "loser." We recognize that. There's also a value to subtracting a selfish, disruptive, divisive knucklehead like Manny from an otherwise-harmonious, purposeful clubhouse. We recognize that, too. And Jason Bay is a heck of a player, one who can stick around and patrol left field in Fenway next year, too. We recognize all of that. Honestly, if the Red Sox went out now and won another World Series, it wouldn't shock us a bit. [+] EnlargeOtto Greule Jr/Getty Images The Dodgers, second-to-last in the NL in homers, could use Ramirez's bat. But they still find themselves dumped into the Losers column of this opus because this trade marks the end of a special era in the life of their team. They have a different aura now than they had a week ago. And the reaction of folks all over their division to Manny's unceremonious exit -- an exit subsidized with $7 million of those hard-earned Red Sox dollars, we should note -- told us all we needed to know: It felt like Mardi Gras for the rest of the AL East. "Don't get me wrong," said an executive of one AL East club. "The Red Sox do a great job. They utilize every advantage they have, and they use all their resources as well as anyone. But sometimes, I don't think even they realized what they had in Manny. When Manny comes up, you feel like you have to pass out ex-lax to your whole team because everybody gets a sick feeling in their stomach -- especially when he had [David] Ortiz there in the middle with him. "Look, Jason Bay is a great player. But he's not Manny. You're talking about one of the greatest right-handed hitters in the history of the game. I've seen so many situations where you'd think you've got a game, and then all of a sudden that guy came up and everything changed. I've seen what he does to pitchers. I've seen how he changes games. They'll miss that. That's all I can say."
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#4
08-01-2008, 01:15 PM
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As a Sox fan, we cant win with him so how much worse can it be w/o him? I mean whats our record been since the all star game? Terrible. We've lost 8 of 9, 6 in a row to the Angels. Too many to the Yankees.
At least he goes to a team I can root for. I'm as sick of this story as I am of the Brett Favre thing. Both need to go away.
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#5
08-01-2008, 01:24 PM
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Everyone is losing to the angels. The yanks just lost at home to the halos in blowout fashion...do you think they would consider trading jeter?
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#6
08-01-2008, 01:31 PM
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Manny gets hits when they matter and is money in the postseason, the complete opposite of Gay Rod, but we won 2 World Series with him and hes turning 37 next season. I say we did okay and lets move on!
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#7
08-01-2008, 01:34 PM
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[quote=Gander]I'm speaking of the last 3 weeks, since the all star break. Hes doing his job but our relievers cant get anyone out, so what does it matter?
Manny gets hits when they matter and is money in the postseason, the complete opposite of Gay Rod, but we won 2 World Series with him and hes turning 37 next season. I say we did okay and lets move on![/QUOTE] Typical.
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#8
08-01-2008, 07:16 PM
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Angels are great but this isnt the time of the year you want your team to catch fire. Its nice that they blew their division wide open but they'll need to sustain that to make it count. They are one of an elite group of teams in baseball who if they dont win the World Series, their season was a bust. I'm building a gigantic milkshake and getting ready to watch them play the Yankees.
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#9
08-01-2008, 09:18 PM
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#10
08-01-2008, 09:31 PM
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Not Rollins with his own "minnie manny" imitation but Hanley would be in New York so fast Jeter wouldn't know what hit him....
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