eastbaybaseball

Manny Ramirez has finally been traded and sends his homers and headaches to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three team, six player blockbuster deal. Manny Ramirez goes to the Dodgers, Jason Bay, formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates, goes to the Boston Red Sox, 3B Andy Laroche and P Ryan Morris of the Dodgers, P Craig Hansen and OF Brandon Moss of the Red Sox goes to the Pirates in the deal.  This deal automatically upgrades a Dodgers lineup managed by the great Joe Torre without giving up one of their young stars Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier and only giving up a couple prospects that didn’t even go to the Red Sox. The Dodgers lineup is deep with Ramirez and with the return of their ace Brad Penny to the rotation and hoping Nomar Garciaparra recovers from a recent injury and returns to full health and field SS for them, they look to make a run at the NL West and possibly contend for the World Series. However, they must get to the playoffs first. They have a big four-game series against the first place Arizona Diamondbacks that starts tonight, however Manny looks to make his Dodger debut to be a part of that series in Game 2 tomorrow night at home in Los Angeles. It is going to be an exciting series and Dodgers fans must be stoked to have a future hall of famer and big-named Star, starring and playing for Hollywood’s hometown team.   

  The Red Sox don’t feel that they lost in this deal because they lost their headache in Manny Ramirez and gets a fairly young, power-hitting outfielder in Jason Bay that gets to play in his first meaningful games, as well as looks to have the same production as Manny in that Bay is hitting .282 with 22HR and 64 RBI, but must contribute quick to win over the Red Sox fans and help their team to the playoffs to defend their title.

The Pirates must be excited for their future as they get possibly four more major-league ready prospects (in LaRoche, Morris, Moss, and Hansen) to help in their rebuilding project for 09′ and beyond.   Andy LaRoche must be sad to leave the Dodgers, but excited to be reuniting with his older brother Adam LaRoche, who currently is the first baseman of the Pirates, but is on the 15-day disabled list. 

Other Notes: Sigh….GM Brian Sabean and the Giants didn’t make any deals as the trade deadline passed to get rid of some veterans either to lack of interest or being to picky and must be disappointing to the fans who are ready to rebuild with the young guys and still have some of these aging veterans on the squad. It doesn’t help that their team is second to last  (4th) in the NL West and has one of the worst records in the majors, and Bochy continues to try and showcase and play these guys. 

     With the trade deadline nearing and just one more day for general managers to make a move, the time is now for contenders to do it and find a way to upgrade their roster that will further help them to the playoffs and beyond. Brewers seem done after dealing for left-handed ace C.C. Sabathia from the Indians to help their starting rotation and Ray Durham from the Giants to help their bench.  The Chicago Cubs traded for ace Rich Harden from the A’s and feel good about their team as of right now. The Dodgers made a move for third baseman Casey Blake to help their offense out and the Yankees made a big deal with the Pirates to get outfielder Xavier Nady and relief pitcher Damaso Marte. And just recently, the Los Angeles Angels, who have the best record in the majors at 66-40, just made a move for Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira and they just got a whole lot better. With Gary Matthews Jr. hopefully returning to help their outfield out, this Angels team seems deep and looks to make a serious run at the World Series.  One more day, clock is ticking, phones are ringing. Who are the buyers and who are the sellers?  Who is next to go? Is it Matt Holliday or Brian Fuentes of the Rockies, Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox, Bengie Molina of the Giants, Greg Maddux of the Padres, Jason Bay and John Grabow of the Pirates Adrian Beltre and Raul Ibanez of the Mariners, or Jose Guillen and Ron Mahay of the Royals? Tune in tomorrow and we will have our answers.   

          As most Bay Area fans have seen, the San Francisco Giants are in a rebuilding mode. They are looking to their youngsters after looking to veterans to carry the team for so many years. They are also searching for a new identity in the post-Bonds era.  Barry Bonds pretty much was their identity the past 15 years.  Today and in the future could it be their new ace and rising star Tim Lincecum be the Giants identity? One can make the case, he is the face of the Giants in 2008. But what about 2009 and beyond? The Giants can’t have one guy do it all; one guy be their identity. They need all 25 guys on the roster to be the one identity, one face, and all have one ultimate goal. 

         However, Giants can use the rest of this season to continue the development in their youngsters and keep building for 2009 and beyond.  The future looks bright for the San Francisco Giants, but they need to keep pushing and grinding.  Next year in 2009, they will have two of their most young, spirited players back on this journey, in lefty southpaw starting pitcher Noah Lowry and second baseman Kevin Frandsen.  These two guys are both gritty, unselfish, and battle for the guys next to them. They want to win. They love this game. This is the kind of attitude and play that these young guys on the Giants team need.  Both of these guys had to deal with injuries this year that kept them out after showing promise last season, but both still keep pushing and working hard to get back on that field before this season ends.  Of them both, Frandsen seems the most spirited and want his hometown team to do well.  Hopefully, young guys like Emmanuell Burriss and John Bowker can feed off these two guys and mesh together to contend for 2009 and beyond.  With a young, but promising starting nucleus of Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Jonathan Sanchez and the return of  Noah Lowry, as well as infielder Kevin Frandsen, the sky is the limit for these Giants.