Even though I was not too happy with the three-team trade between the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox but Jason Bay has been a perfect fit for the defending world champions.
The reason why I was not happy with the trade was because I felt that the Dodgers could have given up a bit more and the Red Sox should have received a relief pitcher in return. With the great coaching of the pitching staff in Boston, Scott Proctor would have been great to have.
Nevertheless, the Left-Fielder Jason Bay has boded well for the Red Sox. Since becoming a Red Sock he has hit safely in each of his five games. In that time-span he has hit six RBIs, hit two doubles, a triple and one home-run, while walking thrice and striking out three times.
The former left-fielder for the Boston Red Sox Manny Ramirez, has played equally well by hitting at least twice in each of his last four games in a Dodgers uniform and raising his batting average to an overwhelming .312.
The only team that, in my opinion, lost in this deal were the Pittsburgh Pirates. Even though the players they received in the trades they made with the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees (Jeff Karstens, Craig Hansen, Brandon Moss, Andy LaRoche and Ross Ohlendorf) have been playing well as of late, they received literally nothing in return that could draw big numbers, big crowds and big television ratings.
Jason Bay will probably not give massive power numbers like Manny Ramirez has done in the past but he will give better fielding percentages, a nice younger version that could be signed for a long-term contract this off-season and the crowds seem to be enjoying his play unless he starts to play atrociously but that seems that will not happen.
“Jason being Jason” “Who needs Manny?” “Manny who?” Are all signs that are plaguing Fenway Park when Jason Bay is up.
Jason Bay is at the prime of his career and will only get better with age. In a small sense, he reminds me of, now anyway, the American League version of Matt Holliday. And that is a good thing for the Red Sox. So far the Red Sox are 4-1 with the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers are 2-2 since acquiring Mr. Ramirez.
What would be interesting to see is if, somehow, the Red Sox and Dodgers meet in the World Series, how the crowd will react to Manny Ramirez.
I would personally applaud him because he has been, most of the time, hitting .300, given us two World Series titles and massive RBI/Home Run totals. Sure his theatrics have been horrible for the Red Sox image but as Terry Francona once said, “I’d rather have a miserable guy hitting .300 than happy-go-lucky giving flowers to his teammates hitting .192.”
Keywords: Boston Red Sox, Jason Bay, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, Pittsburgh Pirates, Trade
