MLB's Most Valuable Trade: What's the Biggest Deal?

When taking stock of what's important, there is a natural tendency to put more emphasis on recent events. Even with that in mind, the trade that sent Manny Ramirez from Back Bay to East L.A. has cast a long shadow over this baseball season.

It gave the Dodgers the power threat they needed to take control of a weak N.L. West, put Manny on course towards MVP discussion, and cleansed the Red Sox clubhouse of stains so foul that it took Curt Schilling nearly two months to even begin to describe them.

OK, so the anti-Manny venom emanating from Yawkey Way is predictable and unfortunate.

But the Red Sox have done just fine without him, going 34-17 in August and September. In his absence, something clicked. Jason Bay certainly hasn’t matched Manny’s magnificent batting line, but his performance in Boston has been exactly as advertised: Besides an above-average bat, good baserunning, and solid fielding, he brings the day-in, day-out intensity that come with a competitor’s first pennant race.

In the long run, assuming that Manny would have been gone by season’s end, this deal ensured an adequate replacement for 2009 at the relative bargain rate of $7 million.

Do rumors and innuendo confirm that Ramirez would have quit on the Sox? Of course not. But as a Sox fan, I’m glad they didn’t bet their postseason on it.

The Miracle of St. Manny

Looking west, Manny’s impact on the Los Angeles offense has been huge. Need to make up for the gaping lack of production where Ned Colletti thought Andruw Jones would be? No problem—since Ramirez arrived he’s hit 17 home runs, and the team’s slugging percentage has gone up 20 points. After sitting at exactly .500 through July, Los Angeles has won 29 of 50 to take the division.

But credit for their success should also go to the starting pitching.

Despite Greg Maddux’s mediocre performance in blue, the rest of the staff has made up for the absence of Brad Penny. With Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley anchoring the rotation, newcomers Hiroki Kuroda and Clayton Kershaw have both settled down since August.

If Theo Epstein hadn’t financed Manny’s L.A. vacation, it’s certainly possible that the Dodgers could still have taken a weak division. But Ramirez’s presence, along with an emerging rotation, turned the team into a legitimate contender.

Win-Win-Whoops

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