He brought the BoSox two championships, but he was never fully comfortable here.
Names we are hearing now:
Sox send Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss (ouch) to Pittsburgh.
Dodgers send Andy LaRoche and a AAA player to Pittsburgh.
Dodgers get Manny.
Sox get Jason Bay.
Bay is younger, more enthusiastic, maybe a #5 hitter. But the Sox sure seem to have given up a lot. Nick Cafardo says there may even be cash involved. Other outlets are reporting that the Sox will pay the remainder of Manny's 2008 salary (about $7 million--OUCH!).
I guess Theo really wanted to get rid of him. Certainly he really wanted to go. And the Dodgers are contenders, so he may be back in the Series again this year.
Still seems to be a question as to whether Manny, who is 10 and 5, pre-approved this deal. Supposedly he pre-approved the three-way Marlins deal that fell through, but Cafardo said that we the tv audience heard about this Dodger deal before Manny did. Then they speculated about whether Terry Francona left Fenway in order to go find Manny and tell him the news. SportsCenter reported at 6pm that Manny was taking a nap when a family member woke him up to tell him about the trade.
Manny has played his last game in Fenway for a long while.
Manny will have to be Manny in LA.
I'm sure he'll like the weather better.
UPDATE: As others have pointed out, this is the fourth anniversary of the Nomar Garciaparra trade, and it is also the first anniversary of the Kevin Garnett trade. May this July 31 be as lucky as the others have been!