Manny Ramirez: Here today, gone tomorrow?
According to Will Carroll from Baseball Prospectus (subscription required), the Marlins may be tempting a trade for Ramirez:
One good source told me that he had heard that the Marlins were involved, willing to give up Jeremy Hermida and Boston-area product Jeff Allison, but I couldn't confirm this. I just don't see this deal getting done.
Where the hell did the Marlins come from? They don't fit the prototypical Manny suitor: have money and have a chance. Obviously if the Marlins added Manny in their lineup, they'd probably make the playoffs. But the Marlins have a $22M payroll and Manny would cost $20M alone next season.
What makes this even more unlikely is what Will writes just one paragraph later:
The Marlins continue to be very proactive in the market. While they can't take on significant payroll or give back premium prospects, the front office is leaving no stone unturned in their quest to stay in the race. When the Braves traded Teixeira this afternoon, for the next hour or so, every call back I got started with "Sorry, I was just talking to the Marlins ..."
So is this a case of "look but don't touch"? 'Hey, that guys might be traded at the deadline, let's see how many bags of balls we can trade for him.'
As much as I do like Jeremy Hermida, this seems like a very lopsided trade. Like Will said, I can't see this deal getting done either.
FOXSports's Ken Rosenthal says Manny being traded "is a longshot."
The rumors will fly for the next day or so, but I don't think Manny is going anywhere. We've played this song and dance 100 times over the years and nothing has ever come together. That's why I think nothing's going to go down but, on the flipside, maybe Theo Epstein is just sick of playing this game? Maybe he'll make the best deal possible for Manny even if it might not be the optimal deal?