What a week

So it was a pretty good week. I don't overtly talk about baseball and personnel much, so I'm about to. This picture, by the way, is of me on the Induction stage approximately one hour after the ceremony had finished. You can read the live blog I did here.

Anyway, so the biggest news of the week - after Sunday's Induction - was the trading deadline. There hasn't been a trading deadline this fun in.... a....long time. The big news, up here, anyway, was that of Manny getting sent to Los Angeles. First, I can't believe the Red Sox even pulled the trigger on that deal. They've been talking about trading Manny for years, I'm surprised they did it. But don't sleep on Jason Bay - everyone thinks the Red Sox downgraded, and maybe they did, but not too much.

First, Bay has played 719 out of his 722 major league games with Pittsburgh. This is his 5th full season with the Pirates. On August 1 the Pirates have been 17.5, 21.5, 19 and 13.5 games out of 1st place. On August 1! In the same regard, on August 1 the Red Sox have been 3.5 back, 9.5 back, 2.5 in first, tied for first and 7 games in first place. Despite being out of contention by, let's be honest here, May 1, Jason Bay has managed to put up a .281 career average, including last year when he hit .247. This guy is going to be so ecstatic about playing for someone involved in meaningful games in August and September that he will at least come close to replacing Manny.

What do you think...