Originally, I was going to post a photo essay of my trip to Fenway Park, but there has been some breaking news from baseball's trading deadline. Four major trades have been made within the past week, two of them today. Here they are:
1) 1B Mark Teixeira from Atlanta to the LA Angels for 1B Casey Kotchman and a minor leaguer.
In a swap of first basemen, the Angels are suddenly the scariest team in baseball right now. After sweeping the Red Sox twice in the past two weeks, the Angels are on a tear as they begin a series against the Yankees tonight in the Bronx. Ultimately, the Angels are signaling that they're going for the championship (the phrase "going all in" has been used by many this week). Complicating matters is that Teixeira is a free agent and will surely command $20 million a year in his contract. This is a great move for the Angels if they can go deep in the playoffs and right now, that looks certain. Readers may recall that Teixeira was traded from Texas to Atlanta this time last year. Both trades were directly caused by his pending free agency, not his ability. For that previous article, click here.
2) OF Manny Ramirez from Boston to LA Dodgers, OF Jason Bay from Pittsburgh to Boston, RP Craig Hansen and OF Brandon Moss from Boston to Pittsburgh, 3B Andy LaRoche and a minor leaguer from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh.
This was a huge surprise! Moody superstar Ramirez essentially forced Boston to trade him by being trouble in the clubhouse. But for Jason Bay? While Bay is a good player, he doesn't have anywhere near the power production that Manny has. Plus giving up two talented kids from the minor leagues? This is a head scratcher for Boston that will work really well or not work at all. As for the Dodgers, if they can tolerate Manny's ego (When a player says, "The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me" that might give a hint as to how big said player's ego is), this could very well win the NL West for them.
3) OF Ken Griffey Jr. from Cincinnati to Chicago White Sox for RP Nick Masset and a minor leaguer.
Future Hall-of-Famer Griffey may finally be able to get to the postseason for the first time since 1997 (with Seattle) after playing for his hometown Cincinnati Reds. For a season in which he reached the 600 home-run plateau, a postseason berth would cap it off well.
4) C Ivan Rodriguez from Detroit to New York Yankees for RP Kyle Farnsworth.
Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is a stellar catcher defensively and will provide power for the Yanks, who are definitely making a postseason run, as usual. Farnsworth has his good moments pitching in relief.
More analysis to come tomorrow for the entire trading season and the season outlook from here.
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