So after a very tense 24 hours, Manny will be going to the Dodgers instead of the Marlins.  It was really close, almost complete except apparently Pittsburgh balked at the end and tried to get more prospects out of the Marlins.  Fortunately, our front office stood firm, the Marlins didn’t wind up getting ripped off, and LA stepped in for us to make Pittsburgh and Boston happy.  I don’t understand why Pittsburgh didn’t like the Marlins deal but liked the LA deal, I’d take Hermida over Andy LaRoche any day.  But, I’m not complaining, this was a deal that we shouldn’t have made.

Manny wouldn’t have added anything to this team that we didn’t already have, and he would make our team defense even worse playing in right field (if that’s even possible).  What he would have added to the Marlins is a HUUUGE distraction and a “Manny being Manny” incident away from sinking our playoff hopes.  Jeremy Hermida is having a very big second half, and we are the last team in baseball that should be giving away prospects on a rental that we don’t even need.  I feel pretty strongly that this team is good enough to win the division, and possibly even win the series the way it is.  Yeah, I said it, I believe this team can win the Series.  I did not say I think we WILL win the Series, just that we can.  Manny wouldn’t have changed that assesment by much.  Frankly, the Dodgers and to a lesser extent the Pirates both did us a big favor.

At the end of the day, we added a very big piece to our bullpen in Arthur Rhoads, and thats all we really needed to do.  We could have used a catcher, but the one that made the most sense went to the Yankees.  I would have much rather seen Pudge back in teal than Manny.

The Dodgers?  They do play in the weakest division in the game, they have the best pitching in the NL (league leading era), but the 13th best offense.  He does help out that weak offense and forces either Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre to the bench, which is a very good thing for them.  So, Manny probably does help them, especially if he goes on one of his tears, but he doesn’t exactly guarantee the playoffs for them.  I wouldn’t be too worried if I were a Dbacks fan.  As for the Sox, they get rid of a major distraction who also happens to average 34 homers and 110 RBIs for them.  This could work out, Jason Bay is no slouch, but he can hardly carry a team like Manny does.  This was a deal they had to make, however, as Manny would have never stayed.  Now they replaced him with a quality outfielder.  Do they make the playoffs this year?  50-50, especially considering how the Yankees have improved themselves.

Whew.  Well, that was a hell of an afternoon…