Manny Ramirez Trade Rumor ... Again

by Randy Booth on Dec 31, 2005 12:16 PM EST in News Comment 23 comments

The New York Daily News has the scoop on this particular four-way trade (because we know there has been so many of these recently):

According to sources, both the Red Sox and Orioles have resigned themselves to accommodating the trade requests of Ramirez and Tejada, who want off of their respective teams. But since the Orioles have signed Jeromy Burnitz to complete their outfield, they may not have a match with the Red Sox in a straight-up Tejada-for-Ramirez deal, so several baseball executives said they'd have to get other teams involved.

That's where the Mets and Devil Rays come in. The basics of the four-team deal that had the baseball executives buzzing yesterday and would appear to satisfy the needs of all four clubs would have Tejada and Tampa Bay's Joey Gathright going to the Red Sox to fill Boston's holes at shortstop and center field.

Ramirez and Baez would go to the Mets, giving them one of the game's best sluggers and a setup man. The Orioles would satisfy their need at shortstop by getting Julio Lugo from Tampa Bay and add pitching by getting Matt Clement from Boston and possibly Kris Benson from the Mets.

The Devil Rays, who have always been difficult to deal with, especially in complicated transactions, are seeking top prospects and young pitching and would be satisfied in that regard by getting third baseman Andy Marte from Boston and Jae Seo and Aaron Heilman from the Mets. In addition, the Mets would send Kaz Matsui to Tampa to give the D-Rays a stopgap shortstop replacement until prospect B.J. Upton is ready.

This trade seems to be giving up a lot on the end of the Red Sox. We lose Manny, the best player in this whole trade, and still have to lose two other players in Clement and Marte.

Manny for Tejada works. That's even. But then we add Gathright by losing Clement and Marte? I don't like that part. I understand losing Clement (and dumping his contract), but losing Marte is just outrageous. It's not like Gathright is a better prospect than Marte. If he was, it might be do-able. But, at this point, Marte is the superior.

The article also says it "would appear to satisfy the needs of all four clubs would have Tejada and Tampa Bay's Joey Gathright going to the Red Sox to fill Boston's holes at shortstop and center field." But that doesn't cover all our holes. It covers the current holes, but it opens up another one in left field with the departure of Ramirez.

Losing Clement would open up our rotation issues, however. David Wells needs to be traded and, if so, we'll have Bronson Arroyo and Jonathan Papelbon in the rotation. Then the only option for a spot-start (or anything longer) would be Lenny DiNardo or Jon Lester making a big jump.

Here's another version of the trade rumor that Eric from Amazin' Avenue pointed out to me. It's the same thing except Matt Clement isn't involved.

However it goes down, it looks like we are strongly going after both Tejada and Gathright. But then that leaves us with another question: who's going to play left field?

And if anyone says Kevin Millar, I'll go and jump off the roof of my house.

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The Mets

THe are commiting high way robbery. They are getting a very good releif pitch and Manny, the best player in the deal by far. THey are giving up 2 pitchers, while we are giving up Manny, and Marte, who could be the next Manny. If this is the deal, no way.

by absolutelax395 on Dec 31, 2005 1:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

3 pitchers

They are giving up 3 pitchers, but still, they are not giving up that much.

by absolutelax395 on Dec 31, 2005 1:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Why would the Orioles give up

Miguel Tejada for Julio Lugo and Kris Benson?

by salb918 on Dec 31, 2005 1:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

RE:

I heard the O's have a thing for Benson. They've wanted him for awhile. Plus, they'd be dumping a big salary.

Well, they either want Benson, or his wife. One or the other.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Dec 31, 2005 6:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Gotta get Tejada

I agree that this appears to make little sense for Baltimore. Losing Tejada without getting Manny (or his equivalent) is a raw deal for Baltimore.

I could live with losing those three players to get Tejada (and Gathright). Clement is damaged goods, Marte is promising but totally unproven, and Tejada is just about the only person who could replace Manny.

Finding a left fielder would be a lot easier than filling the other two.

by Hudson on Jan 1, 2006 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

NO DEAL!

If the Red Sox make this deal, it will be the worst offseason move this year, and we've made some doozies. I think Manny and Clement should cover Tejada and Gathwright. No way should Marte be included. He could be the future of the franchise.

by forage on Dec 31, 2005 9:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Dumb Deal

Hopefully this rumor will disappear. No way should the Sox give up Marte. What they need to do is concentrate on dealing Wells and maybe they can take a pitching prospect or two from the Dodgers, (they have quite a few good ones), that they can flip in a deal for a centerfielder, (Reed?). It won't be a disaster if they don't get Tejada for Manny. They'll still have one of the best hitters around and as for Shortstop, Loretta can play there quite well, he played more games there then anywhere else up until 2001. (He also has played alot of 3rd and 1st as well as 2nd in his career.) Graf plays a decent 2nd and Cora can back up SS.

by yazmon on Jan 1, 2006 1:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

RE:

The only issue with keeping Manny is that he doesn't want to be here. So we shouldn't trade him for a bag of balls when we can get Tejada and address a huge hole.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Jan 1, 2006 8:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Manny

This is quite true but remember, Manny didn't want to be here last year or the year before either. He just played like Manny anyway. Wonder how much he'd want to leave if we scored Miggy without trading him. I know, dream on.

by yazmon on Jan 1, 2006 11:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Read something interesting...

The Mets have apparently talked to the Sox about swaping Kaz Matsui for Alex Cora. The Mets would eat about 5 mill on the contract.

by absolutelax395 on Jan 1, 2006 1:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I just realized something

Manny makes 20 million a year. Tejada makes about 11 million a year. They are making more money that most poepl will ever see in there life to play baseball, a boys game. They should shut up and play. This "damnading trades" thing is bullshit. It is completely loony to think that a player who willingly signed with a team would damnand a trade to another team. In any other job, a person would be fired. I am sick of these brats saying that they have horrible lives and can't play some where because they are effected by the fans or media coming down on them. You signed a contract to play in Boston, you said you wanted to play in Boston, now shut up and play in Boston.

by absolutelax395 on Jan 1, 2006 4:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

nah

So far the front office is 3 for 3 this offseason with making good trades. I highly doubt they'd squander all the progress they've made with that terrible deal.

The more wild rumors get thrown about the more it seems likely that Manny will be staying put.

Friendly Fenway

by Brian Martin on Jan 1, 2006 5:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Burnitz?

On what planet does getting Jeremy Burnitz mean you don't need Manny Ramirez? That's some comedy gold waiting to be mined....

by NinetyNineTails on Jan 1, 2006 7:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

RE:

Well they did give him $12 million. That's probably the only reason.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Jan 1, 2006 9:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hah

Merely evidence that Baltimore has no aquaintance with the phrase 'sunk costs'. The fact that Burnitz's contract was a sunk cost before the ink dried is not a reason for them to not want Manny, either. ;)

by NinetyNineTails on Jan 2, 2006 5:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not a done deal

I just read that the Burnitz deal is not yet final and the Astros think they still have a chance at getting him. This news is quite interesting if true.

by yazmon on Jan 2, 2006 9:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Burnitz to Pirates?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2278782

by argo0 on Jan 3, 2006 12:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

RE:

Woohoo!

Good news for Sox fans because now the O's really need an outfielder and they'll have money to spend.

I'll be shocked at this point if Boston doesn't get Tejada before the end of the week. The pieces are beginning to fall into place.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Jan 3, 2006 1:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Tejada trade

It really makes a lot of sense for both sides. As long as the Sox don't give up any of their star prospects, I'm fine with it. If we have to include Clement, we can pick up a top-flight pitcher in next year's free agency and suck it up this year.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Jan 4, 2006 8:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Keep it simple

The Sox and O's ought to just trade Manny and Tejada straight up, and split the difference in their salaries.

This solves each team's "personality problem" while giving both roughly equal value.

by Hudson on Jan 1, 2006 8:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Except...

people are greedy & unreasonable. Tejada has more value, since he's an all-star SS and Manny is generally regarded as a sub-par LFer.

Manny + $ or a decent prospect for Tejada is a perfectly reasonable trade, but it'll never happen.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Jan 2, 2006 9:41 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Millwood again

I'm just posting this here because I think more people will read it.

Millwood signed with the Rangers for nearly as much money as Pedro Martinez received from the Mets.

Even considering Pedro's declining durability, if we failed to sign him and instead got Millwood that's a very bad deal. There are some terrific pitchers coming up for free agency next year such as Jason Schmidt, Mark Mulder, Kerry Wood, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, Brad Radke, Kelvim Escobar, Ted Lilly, Andy Pettitte, Doug Davis, and Barry Zito.

I would rather tough it out this year and pay for a great pitcher next year than pay a lot of money for a decent pitcher this year.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Jan 2, 2006 1:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Pitching

If the Sox can't somehow turn having Shilling, Beckett, Clement, Wells, Arroyo, and Wakefield under contract into a starting rotation in 2005, we need new new GMs.

by NinetyNineTails on Jan 2, 2006 5:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs