Add on to that their giving up Andy LaRoche, a third-baseman who was rated as the second bet prospect in a loaded farm system prior to this year, and RHP Bryan Morris, who missed last year with Tommy John surgery, but was their #1 pick the year prior and is still only 21.
Oh, but we aren't done yet. There's still one more issue. Prior to this trade, the Dodgers were already trying to find playing time for four outfielders - Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Andruw Jones, and Juan Pierre. Granted, Pierre has been playing his way out of this rotation sporadically all season, but that still leaves the situation if having Manny block a talented youngster (Kemp/Ethier) for a couple months. Since there's no way the Dodgers are benching Jones and his monster contract, no matter how bad he's hitting.
Not only does this add to their logjam in the outfield, but it fails to solve their other glaring weakness - that their shortstop rotation is currently Angel Berroa (barely good enough to be on a major league roster), Nomar (cant stay healthy), and Rafael Furcal (wont be back until September if then).
Ridiculous trade, I don't care what anybody else says.
Grade - D
Pittsburgh Pirates - Any discussion of how this deadline panned out for Pittsburgh has to come with the disclaimer that, because of the prior management, the current guys were really having to rebuild from almost nothing this year. That being said, they made another great trade. In this deal, they got two players from Los Angeles who immediately are in the organization's top 5 prospects. They also got two other players from Boston who may not be superstars, but will at least be immediately useful, and not in a "bag of balls" way either. The Pittsburgh fans by and large will surely be up in arms over their favorite star player being gone, but it was a necessary step in having any hope of ending the franchises' streak of futility.
There's much more work to be done, but this is an excellent start.
Grade - B+
Tampa Bay Rays - Everybody and their mother knew that Tampa realistically needed a right-handed outfield bat that was not named Eric Hinske or Gabe Gross, and that a top notch reliever wouldn't hurt either. What is Jason Bay? A right-handed outfield bat. Tampa let this deal fall through because they were only willing to offer the Pirates two prospects for Bay, and neither was one of their three top pitching prospects.
Foolish move by Tampa. They already have a ton of top-end pitching talent, between James Shields, Scott Kazmir, and David Price. To say that it was too much to ask for Price OR Jeremy Hellikson OR Wade Davis (their other top-end pitching talents) is absolutely ridiculous.
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
From what I read, Manny's options were eliminated with the trade...
2 - El Bicho
The options appeared to be eliminated as the article progressed