Commentary: Moving Manny was the right thing to do

The following comes from an e-mail exchange I had with Cooch:

What needs to be stated right off the bat is this trade wasn't made in a vacuum. The Sox were painted into a corner. Between pushing Jack McCormick down, his altercation with Youk, and his statements to ESPNDeportes essentially throwing the organization under the bus, the Sox were in an unenviable position to sever the relationship. With that as a backdrop, we had no leverage, so it was impossible to get "equal value" for Manny. Instead, we had to get the best compensation possible which allowed us to have as little dropoff as possible. After all, we're in a pennant race. The last thing we needed was to downgrade an already offensive-challenged club.

Given the circumstances, to get someone of Jason Bay's caliber, a guy with legit .290/30/100 capabilities who's an above avg on-base guy, for a disgruntled malcontented superstar, a crappy reliever who just wasn't coming around, and a spare outfielder, I'm not sure you can ask for much more as a Sox fan.

He's signed through '09, as you said, so this is not a rental situation like the Dodgers are doing with Manny. We'll have all of 2009 to evaluate him, and our cost is $7.5 million + $7 million of Manny's '08 salary for the last two months of the season; a savings of $5.5 million from Manny's '09 option.

Bay is probably 80-85% the hitter Manny is. But he's able to help us in different areas where Manny couldn't-- namely defense and baserunning, and do it at a reduced salary without the headaches.

The biggest question mark is how Bay adjusts to the American League, most notably in a pennant race with the pressure intensified. How he adapts will go a long way in evaluating this trade.

In the meantime, the Sox rid themselves of a headache, cancer, disruption, distraction, and malcontent. By doing that, I feel a huge weight was lifted from the team.