Manny goes to Hollywood

SANTO DOMINGO.- Manny Ramírez'new home is now Hollywood. The Boston Red Sox finally cut their ties with the talented slugger, and traded him yesterday to the Los Angeles Dodgers as art of a three-way deal that takes Jason Bay to Boston, according to sources close to the negotiations.
Pittsburgh let Bay go and got four prospects according to sources that did not want to be identified, at least until the official announcement was made.

The deal was brokered just hours before the trade deadline at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
At first, everything pointed towards a Red Sox deal with the Florida Marlins, but that deal fell through just hours. When that deal, which also involved the Pittsburgh Pirates, fell through, they were able to find another team interested in Manny: Los Angeles.

Foxsports.com and SI.com were the first to report on the trade.

Ramírez, the MVP of the 2004 World Series, is one of the best batters in the major leagues, and has some memorable post-season performances.

However, his relation with the Boston front office soured over the past few months and this pushed the talented player to accept his trade.

Ramírez' new team, the Dodgers, are one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the in the Western Division of the National League, and they were looking for a heavy hitter. Boston, in the thick of the fight for the Eastern Division pennant race and trying to win a second consecutive World Series, wanted a productive hitter and now they have Bay.

Joe Torre, the Dodgers' manager, called Ramírez "an excellent player that will help a lot."
The Pirates, in last place in their division, had an interest in some young players. Boston gave them reliever Craig Hansen, and outfielder Brandon Moss, and Los Angeles added third baseman Andy LaRoche and pitcher Brayan Morris. LaRoche, Moss and Hansen will join the Pirates and Morris will go to Class A.

Ramírez was quoted as saying, "The Red Sox do not deserve a player like me. They did the same with Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martínez and now they are doing the same with me. Their aim is tomake me the bad one in all of this."

Both Bay and Ramírez have similar numbers.
So far this season: BAY RAMÍREZ

Batting average .282 .299
Homeruns 22 20
RBIs 64 68
On Base Percentage .375 .398
Slugging average .515 .590

Diario Libre