Manny Ramirez has FINALLY been traded away from the Boston Red Sox - and he is heading out west to join Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe and the rest of the Dodgers.  The trade is certainly going to be controversial for sox fans, who have been either insistant that he stay, or insistant that he is a pain in the ass.

I would caution Red Sox fans to at least approach this rationally.

First of all - we all know Jason Bay is not Manny Ramirez.  As hot a commodity as he has been before, he just isn’t the same player.  Manny Ramirez is one of the greatest hitters in this generation, and Bay - well he’s just “very good”.

But lets take a look at the two of them this season and see if maybe this isn’t that bad of a move.

JASON BAY
.282 AVG .375 OBP .519 SLG 22 HR 64 RBI 86 Ks

MANNY RAMIREZ
.299 AVG .398 OBP .529 SLG 20 HR 68 RBI 86 Ks

Not THAT large of a dropoff.

Yes, its true, Jason Bay had a rough year last year, but in fairness it was little more than an off year, and what he’s doing this year is right in line with what you should expect from him.

He’s also 29, not 36. And there is a pretty good case to be made that he has been “held back” by the absolute garbage around him in Pittsburgh.  Add that with the green monster he can pepper doubles off, and you just might see his production rise.  Stranger things have happened.

I’m not exactly in love with the move, but as much as some Sox fans may cry about it - its hardly lopsided.  I happen to think its basically an even swap.

Hell, the best part of the trade was the Red Sox unloaded Craig Hansen - which is the very definition of addition by subtraction.