Cubs should pursue Manny Ramirez trade
FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reported that Manny Ramirez is looking to change agents in an effort to help engineer a trade. The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes follows up with more details.
I think this is a move the Cubs should strongly consider now that they are free of Sammy Sosa's salary. A Lee-Ramirez-Ramirez heart of the order would immediately become one of the best in baseball. Also, it would lessen the need for a Rafael Furcal acquisition at shortstop. With that kind of thunder, a good OBP-guy at the top would be the only requirement and Matt Murton playing in right field could fit that bill.
Yes, Manny is 33 and yes, he's got about $60 million coming to him over the next three years. He will undoubtedly decline somewhat, but it's highly unlikely that he will experience a Sosa-like decline. His health has been good, and he's a better fielder than people give him credit for.
He is one of the top five hitters in the game (Bonds, Guerrero, Rodriguez and Pujols are the others) and there's not much evidence to suggest he'll forget how to hit over the next three years. If trading for Ramirez means forgoing a solid starting pitcher and some bullpen help, perhaps it's not worth it. It's hard to measure these things in a vacuum. Ramirez is definitely one of those special players the Cubs should pursue if they have the chance, and he's certainly the kind of player for whom Hendry should be willing to surrender some of his treasured prospects.
Thoughts?
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Manny
I would dearly love to agree with this, but I'm not as sure as you are.
First off, I would question where you come up with the idea that "he's a better fielder than people give him credit for." His BP fielding numbers are pretty bad - 13 runs below average last year - and his range factor and even his fielding percentage were both well below average also. I'm not terribly worried about LF defense, but let's not kid ourselves.
Second, while it may be argued that he's one of the top five hitters in the game right now, will that necessarily be true even at this time next year? Teixeira, Hafner, Bay, Miguel Cabrera - all these guys are fairly likely to move ahead of Ramirez even if he doesn't hit much of a decline. Yet of the other four you name, only Bonds is a good bet to move off the list anytime soon.
That's not to say that I don't think Ramirez would be good for the lineup, all other things being equal. Yet even if he doesn't go through a Sosa-like collapse, it's probably unreasonable to expect him to stay around the .300/.400/.600 we've come to expect from him. At $20 mil a year, I'm not sure it's a good idea to be stuck with just another good hitter - if you're not getting elite performance from that money, you're probably hurting things more than helping them.
Even scarier, I don't think that a Sammy-like collapse is as unlikely as you make it sound. According to baseball-reference.com, his top comparables are players like Juan Gonzalez, Hank Greenberg, Albert Belle, Duke Snider and Jim Thome. Greenberg, of course, had his career interrupted by the war (big caveat!), but still, that's not a terribly encouraging list, as none of those players had much of an impact after age 33.
RE: Manny
Another factor in this: Over the last two seasons, Ramirez has lost OPS points when leaving Fenway. 65 in 2004 and about a 100 this year. He didn't have that kind of split in 2002 and 2003, so perhaps it is somewhat of a fluke. Hard to say.
I really don't see Hendry doing this paying Ramirez's full salary. Boston would have to pick some of it up.
In the end, though, I don't really want the Cubs to acquire Ramirez because I'm not sure how much I could cheer for him.
Why would you have trouble ro
Why would you have trouble rooting for Manny?
--
Kevin B. O'Reilly
http://kevin.oreilly.net/howl/
Re: cheering for M. Ramirez
The silly stuff like not playing because you were promised a day off or showing disrespect to opposing pitchers would irritate me.
Yes, that is irritating, but
Yes, that is irritating, but not as irritating as the offensive showing of this year's Cubs' outfield.
--
Kevin B. O'Reilly
http://kevin.oreilly.net/howl/
Yes, what I'm really looking
Yes, what I'm really looking for is a Todd Hollandsworth or Doug Glanville type disposition with Manny Ramirez's ability. That would make me happy.
Get Manny!!!
I've said all along! If they stick another embarressing OF out there like they did this year, I'll be sick. Hollandsworth and a AAA-retread? C'mon!
Trade Corey for Manny (they'd take him just to dump Manny's salary.)
My ideal lineup for 2006:
SS - Furcal - $10 million
CF - Johnny Damon - $10 million
1B - D Lee - ($8 million)
3B - A Ram ($9 million)
LF - Manny - $18 million
RF - Matt Murton... Gotta cut corners somewhere. - Peanuts ($500k?)
2B - R Cedeno - Peanuts ($500k?)
C - Barrett/Blanco ($4.5 million combined)
4 bench players @ $3 million each = $12 million
Total postion players = $74 million
Key Salary losses: ($42.5 MILLION TOTAL!!) Nomar $9 million, Hawkins $4.5 million, Sosa $15 million, Burnitz $4.5 million, Patterson - $2.5 million, Walker $2.5 million, Remlinger $4.5 million
Pitching Staff:
Prior - $4 million
Zambrano - $4 million
Maddux - $9 million
Wood - $9.5 million
Some GOOD free agent starter - $8 million
Dempster - $4 million
6 more relievers @ $3 million = $18 million
Total pitching staff = $56.5 million
TOTAL PAYROLL $130 MILLION. GO FOR IT JIMMY HENDRY!
The most likely things...
... to happen from this list are:
4 bench players @ $3 million each = $12 million
6 more relievers @ $3 million = $18 million