Toxicity

The way I figure it, low expectations are the key to happiness. So if I announce that the trading deadlines will pass with the sounds of crickets chirping, I've set the stage for the Year of the Blockbuster.

You want to know how toxic Manny Ramirez had become to the Boston Red Sox? Consider this: they relinquished two young players and $7 million for the right to trade him for an inferior player.

Has any serious World Series contender ever before knowingly sacrificed the present for the future? It's hard to imagine, but that's what the Sox did. Jason Bay is a fine player, he'll save the franchise a few lira to dangle before CC Sabathia and he'll fill left field beyond the end of this season, but the Baysox are less likely to fly a banner than are the Mannysox.

This move is the counter-argument to my contention that teams ought to have signed Barry Bonds: the clubhouse does matter. But the circumstances are different: Barry doesn't loaf, he does care, and he doesn't criticize management in public. As for the argument that Bonds brings with him a "media circus," for New England's baseball team that would be like bringing a geek to a Star Trek convention.

As for the trade of the other Hall of Famer, Shakespeare already wrote this story -- Much Ado About Nothing. Ken Griffey Jr. is a pale shadow of the great Seattle player who hit for average and power and intercepted big flies in mid-flight. He does none of those things now, nor does he play an adequate center-field. In fact, the one thing about which we can be confident with regard to his position switch is that he'll get hurt. It may be an upgrade for the White Sox, at least as long as it lasts, but not a significant one.

Kudos to the Yankees for making three good short-term pickups without relinquishing anything they'll regret. New York's acquisitions, combined with Manny's departure, tighten that division even further.