Manny for Bay

As most of you know by now, the Red Sox are considering a deal that would send Manny Ramirez to Florida, and would essentially bring Jason Bay to Boston to fill Ramirez' void in the cleanup spot.

I have been a Manny supporter from day one. I think his presence and production in the lineup are irreplaceable during the season. If he is traded by 4 p.m. today, I will miss him, and I believe the Red Sox will miss him as well.

That being said, this is the best deal for the Red Sox I have heard to date involving Ramirez. Boston has tried to trade Ramirez every year since 2003, and it has never been able to work out a deal for anything remotely close to $0.90 per dollar. 

If the Sox are able to get Jason Bay in return for Manny, they will be able to replace a good portion of his production. The numbers are similar: Ramirez - .299, 20 HR, 68 RBI. Bay - .282, 22 HR, 64 RBI. The plan will be for Bay to hit cleanup, and looking at those stats it appears he will be able to replace Ramirez' production.

There are, however, two problems with this deal.

1. We do not know how Bay will deal with the pressure of playing in Boston. It's hard to guarantee he will put up similar numbers in this difficult market. Playing in Pittsburgh and Boston are totally different animals. Maybe he will do even better in Boston than he did in Pa., but it's a big question mark that has to be answered either way.

2. Bay won't have the presence Ramirez has in the Red Sox lineup. He's a fine player, someone who can hit a few home runs and drive in some runs in the right situations. Maybe he will do even better now that he will have a more formidable lineup around him. But he hardly strikes fear into pitchers like Ramirez does. Part of what makes the Manny/Ortiz combo so great is the fact that pitchers have to choose who to pitch to. My argument is that Bay will not convince pitchers to face Ortiz.

The thing is, if ownership has decided that Ramirez is such a problem in the clubhouse that a deal absolutely must be done, than this is the best deal they will be able to get. I would still prefer no deal at all involving Ramirez, but if it is really that bad (and I am not in the locker room so I cannot say either way), they should pull the trigger on Bay, because it won't get any better than this.