Is Manny Ramirez on the move?

(SawxBlog Illustration)

Well it looks like the Manny Ramirez trade talks may finally actually becoming more then talks. Buster Olney over at ESPN.com is reporting that Manny may be with another team as soon as Saturday, however, don't expect to be blown away by the names being mentioned in return.

The days of Manny trade talk that included names such as A-Rod and Tejada seem to be a thing of the past. Now we're hearing names like Scott Linebrink, Chad Billingsley, & Matt Kemp which can't be too uplifting for the most optimistic of Red Sox fans. The biggest name mentioned is Michael Young and even that seems to be a massive downgrade.

If the Red Sox Sheffield Manny to another team for what will equate to basically prospects I'll be thoroughly disappointed. Everyone knows we can't get equal value on Manny, but we should come close. With Manny Ramirez wearing another cap the Red Sox INSTANTLY become a different team. Ortiz instantly loses a lot of support, and sports writers in Boston will instantly not know who to write about any more.

A lot of what happens with Manny seems to be based on the Red Sox negotiations with JD Drew, another player who's been viewed by people in the community as somewhat of a clubhouse cancer, and again, a large upgrade from Trot, but a large downgrade from Manny.

Comments

[Peter N]

Sadly, your great post might be too true.....upchecking. The whole start of this off season, including DMat, is becoming forgettable, to say the least..turn it around Theo...now!

[Peter N]

I meant upchucking...as in "not happy."

[Dad]

I believe that if we let manny go for next to nothing it's a bad move. If nothing else he is the best pure hitter in the game and this would improve the Yankees (i think he hit 500 with a lot of homers against them.) Also you can count on David getting a lot of walks next year without Manny to protect him. We know he is hard to live with but we could find out it's harder without him if we don't get somethig good in return.

[Derek Hixon]

Yeah I think we'd lose A TON without Manny in the line-up. I have confidence in what the Sox will do, but even if we get both Lugo and Drew I don't think it'd be enough to offset losing Manny.