Thursday, July 31, 2008

Manny Comes to the Dodgers

ESPN is reporting that Manny Ramirez will be a Dodger for the next two months.

Though the trade has yet to be officially announced, ESPN says that Manny goes to the Dodgers, the Dodgers send Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates, Boston sends Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen to the Pirates, and the Pirates send Jason Bay to Boston.

Seems like the Pirates got a pretty decent haul of prospects.

I honestly don't know whether to be excited or scared, but my first instinct is leaning towards fear.

Why did the Dodgers get another high-priced outfielder when we can't play all the ones that we already have? I assume that this means Andre Ethier will sit, and I can see them playing Andruw Jones over Juan Pierre now that they have Manny. With a slugger in the middle of the lineup, the Dodgers might feel that they can drop Jones in the order and continue to give him at bats without the pressure of producing runs.

It seems that their best outfield would be Manny, Ethier, and Matt Kemp, but it's hard to say how Jones and Pierre would fit in.

But why give up LaRoche for two months of Manny? I'm assuming it's going to be two months of Manny, since I can't imagine the team would give him the last big contract that he wants to end his career with. Actually, I can imagine Ned Colletti and Frank McCourt giving Manny $25 million a year in a misguided attempt to create headlines. But does he turn the Dodgers from a pretender to a contender?

Manny does not turn the Dodgers into a World Series contender. He gives the team a legitimate shot at winning the NL West, but the Dodgers still have too many injuries and offensive problems to seriously compete in the playoffs.

The Dodgers traded away their third baseman of the future after only giving him 152 at bats over the last two years. Less than a third of a season's worth of at bats is not nearly enough time to figure out what a player is worth, especially a prospect of LaRoche's caliber. The Dodgers weakened themselves for next year for some headlines and a chance to lose to the Phillies, Mets, or Cubs in the playoffs.

Thanks a lot.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was pretty surprised by this trade. Do Kemp or Ethier have any infield experience? I guess the Dodgers are putting their 3rd base faith the Blakes.

Anonymous said...

I think it's a good trade. Everything anyone thinks they know about Laroche is assumption, while Manny is their best shot to get to the playoffs now. I think you have to go for a deal like this when you have the chance. Who knows maybe they will make the WS. And everything for just one prospect...but obviously only time will tell.

Unknown said...

that John Brubaker is an insightful guy.