Jonah Ramirez

In the bible Jonah is called by God to prophesize in the city of Nineveh. Jonah instead tries to sail to Tarshish. God sends a great storm and Jonah realizes that the storm is his fault. The sailors throw Jonah overboard and the seas calm and Jonah is swallowed by a great fish.

Manny Ramirez was called to be a great baseball player but instead this season he was the middle of a great storm of his own making. Today the Red Sox front office has traded him away - thrown him overboard if you will - with the hopes that the seas will be calmed and a tranquility will descend upon the Red Sox clubhouse.

That was the analogy that struck me with the trading of Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers with the Red Sox getting Jason Bay on their end.

Taking a closer look at the trade - here are my thoughts.

Red Sox - this is more than just addition by subtraction. Yes - Manny Ramirez had become more than mere distraction and shipping him out of town automatically improves the atmosphere in Fenway Park. Jason Bay is not chopped liver though. Manny will probably feast on NL pitching but he will be hitting primarily in pitcher's ballparks. It should also be noted that this is the 2008 Manny - not the 2004 Manny that many people seem to be describing. His skills at the plate are in decline. He put up an OPS+ of 140 to this point for the Red Sox. I can easily see Jason Bay matching that production both for the rest of this season and also for 2009.

The Red Sox also gave up Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen in the deal. I'm happy for Moss because he'll get to play full time in Pittsburgh. Hansen is a Scott Boras client and I have to wonder if that played into the decision to include him in the deal. Now the only Boras clients on the team are Jason Varitek, Jacoby Ellsbury and JD Drew. It will be interesting to see how the team handles the Varitek negotiations with Boras. I almost expect them to make a take it or leave it one-year offer (with Varitek taking it).

It should also be pointed out that with Manny gone and Curt Schilling probably retiring - the Red Sox will have $21 million freed up for next season's salary budget. That is no small item and why they did not hesitate to pick up the rest of Manny's 2008 salary.

Dodgers - they get Manny and his bat but they also get Manny and his creaky legs and his leaky defense. They lose Andy LaRoche who has not lived up to his hype yet (but he's still only 24). They also lose AA pitcher Bryan Morris who may be a diamond in the rough. I think if Ned Colletti organized a picnic - he'd have seven deserts, no sandwiches and potato salad past its expiration date. He's not a very good GM.

Pirates - normally I'm against trading a quarter for 5 nickels but this may work out for Pittsburgh. They get an outfielder to replace Bay in Moss (who could be better than David Murphy who has prospered in Texas since getting to play full time). They get a LaRoche brother on both hot corners (think of the marketing potential). They get a player who could turn into a legit MLB closer in Hansen (who could then be traded for even more prospects). And they get a top pitching prospect in Morris. Most importantly they get players who are all cheap and under team control for a few years to come. In addition - they don't have to pay signing bonuses to any of these guys. If they took the 2 first round picks when Bay walked after 2009 - the combined 2009 salary for Bay and the signing bonuses for those 2 picks would be much more that what they will pay LaRoche, Moss, Hansen and Bryan Morris probably for the next 2 seasons.

Jon Heyman - Clueless Baseball Writer

It's official - Jon Heyman really doesn't have a clue about baseball. In his latest SI column, Heyman talks about seven trades that need to happen before the trade deadline. Let's take a look at them jut to prove the point that Heyman doesn't have a clue.

1. Scott Rolen to the Dodgers. Heyman seems to be suggesting a Andy LaRoche for Rolen deal. If that deal was done - Ned Colleti would be fired on the spot. Consider this:

- Rolen has 3-years and $36 million left on his contract and has an injury history. Colleti is still paying Bill Mueller's contract. Mueller is the last "name" 3rd baseman Colleti signed with an injury history.

- Heyman says that Rolen would be acquired for his power but as bad as Wilson Betemit has been for the Dodgers he has double the number of HR (4 to 2) in almost half the AB (78 to 129). Since hitting 34 HR in 500 AB in 2004 - a HR every 14.7 AB - Rolen has hit just 29 HR at an average of 1 HR every 29 AB.

- Andy LaRoche is the top rated prospect in the Dodger farm system according to Baseball America. LaRoche has been the starting 3rd baseman for the past couple of weeks and so far this season his OPS has been 204 points higher than what Rolen has posted this year. Rolen would be a down-grade at this point at the plate.

An Andy LaRoche trade for Scott Rolen would manage to make the Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir trade from a couple of years ago look good in comparison.

2. Garrett Atkins and Todd Helton to the Angels. Helton has a no-trade contract and has said he will not waive it during the season. Atkins has been struggling this season and is not a clear upgrade over either Shea Hillenbrand or Chone Figgens. As Daniel Kaffee would say, "Thank you for playing, 'Should we or should we not follow the advice of the galactically stupid.'"

3. Chad Cordero to the Indians. Sure this trade makes sense but even Heyman points out that, "Nationals GM Jim Bowden likely will ask for the moon, anyway, so Cleveland may have to look elsewhere." That elsewhere may turn out to be Atlanta where Rafael Soriano has made Bob Wickman expendable.

4. Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox. Why would Griffey approve this trade? The White Sox aren't winning anything this year. Why would Griffey want to leave the comfort of his home town to play for Ozzie Guillen? Makes no sense.

5. Troy Glaus to the Tigers. Why would the Tigers take on Glaus' contract (he gets $12.5 million next year)? Offense is not a problem for the Tigers and why would the Tigers mess with the team chemistry by sitting either the popular Inge or Casey at the corners or the combustible Gary Sheffield at DH? Again - it makes no sense.

6. Al Reyes to the Brewers. So a 36-year old guy with 6 career saves going into this season is among the seven trades Jon Heyman thinks should be made? Jon - maybe you should have made this a list of six trades that need to happen.

7. Jon Rauch to the Red Sox. Maybe Heyman has never heard of the Larry Andersen for Jeff Bagwell trade. The Red Sox have a bad history about dealing prospects for middle relievers.

None of these trades make any sense. I get the feeling that if Jon Heyman was a zoologist that he's recommend the elephant trading his trunk for a duck-bill. Hey that trade makes as much sense as Scott Rolen for Andy LaRoche.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Dodgers brought up 3rd baseman Andy LaRoche, brother of Pirates 1st baseman Adam LaRoche, and Andy has hit in all three games since the call-up. LaRoche could be a good candidate for the NL ROY if he keeps this up (although Josh Hamilton will be a big sentimental favorite this year). Andy and Adam's father is Dave LaRoche who pitched for 14 big-league seasons and is currently the pitching coach for the New Hampshire Fishercats (the AA affiliate for the Blue Jays)... Maybe the person happiest to see Bobby Abreu struggling for the Yankees (.258 BA with just 1 HR) is Andruw Jones. If the Yankees pick up Abreu's option for 2008 - then all three outfield spots for the Yankees are tied up and the Yankees would be out of the bidding for the free agent to be Jones. However, at his current production level - why would the Yankees ever pick up the $16 million option?... Ichiro is now on pace for just 174 hits which would break his string of six straight 200-hit seasons... Only Gary Sheffield (6th pick) and Roberto Hernandez (picked 16th) remain from the class of players drafted in the first round of the 1986 MLB draft. That draft was noteable because all of the top 6 picks actually had productive MLB careers (normally the top picks in the MLB draft are crapshoots). Greg Swindell (123 wins) was picked 2nd by the Indians, Matt Williams (378 HR) was picked 3rd by the Giants, Kevin Brown (211 wins) was picked 4th by the Rangers, and Kent Merker (17-year career) was picked 5th by the Braves. Of the top 6 picks - maybe the least successful was the very first pick - Jeff King - who was picked by the Pirates. But even King had three straight seasons of 20+ HR and 90+ RBI in a career that lasted 11 seasons... Jason Varitek raised his batting average 34 points last night from .250 to .284 with his 4-4 performance against the Blue Jays...