true, but I think Pedroia will still be a better hitter than Ellsbury when both players maximize their potential. But the stuggles most young players face have something in common. its a case of a kid no one knows coming up hitting, then pitchers make adjustments to those guys. the young player then has to follow up with adjustments of his own and I think Ellsbury will do that
I think it was very clear to every GM in baseball that the Sox had no choice but to get rid of Manny, thus making it very difficult for Theo to negotiate a fair deal. All things considered, Theo and the Sox came out well
the bottom line is that regardless of how Manny does for the next 2-3 months and regardless of what kind of contract he gets in the off-season, the Red Sox had little choice in letting him go and the fact that he and Boras came out and said he would've behaved had the two options been dropped puts the exclamation point on that.
The Sox can't do business by allowing Manny to hold them hostage to try and regain control of his financial future from a clause he agreed to in the first place. It sets a horrible precedent that would affect several teams for years to come and to an extent, it did but at least the Sox proved that they wouldn't be a part of it
would there really be a huge learning curve in playing the monster? im sure Bay will be used to it after about a week. Ramirez's ability to play the monster has always been overrated in my opinion, ive seen a bunch of left fielders come in and play the monster just as well as Manny
Those expecting Bay to come in and produce like Manny has are completely missing the point of this trade. With Bay, you'll get better defense, better base-running, effort at all times and a better clubhouse.
There's no doubt Manny did a lot more good for the organization than bad and I'm happy that he'll be able to get a fresh start somewhere else. I'm just glad we never got the opportunity to see what else he might've done to further tarnish his reputation in the next two months plus
I really believe in the addition by subtraction factor of this deal too
all that being said, I never thought I'd see the day Joe Torre would manage Manny