Trade deadline verdict

I should just really leave this space blank... ... ... thereby generating as much excitement as yesterday's trade deadline.

You have to think that ESPN, with the two hour "Trade Deadline Special" edition of Baseball Tonight, were more than a little miffed that Kyle Farnsworth was the big name trade on the day.

The Sox big move was keeping Manny Ramirez, and the verdict from both the traditional press and the blogging world is that this a good thing. One or two people are of the view that this is a temporary arrangement, and that he will most certainly be gone in the winter - I have to admit that the thought crossed my mind that the Sox and Ramirez came to informal agreement that if Manny stayed now, they would move him to an 'acceptable' club in the winter.

If this is the case, let's enjoy the ride for the next few months.

None of the trade proposals that made the press made an ounce of sense for the Sox - I appreciate that the Sox perhaps had to accept some trade off between talent and dollars in any agreement, but the drop off from Manny to any single player mentioned was unbridgeable. A decent arguement can be made that Huff plus Cameron is almost equal to Ramirez and Olerud, but I think that introduces risks that the Sox didn't want to accept at this stage of the season.

As an aside, how mad must it make certain GM's that other GM's cannot keep their mouths shut? If I am a GM and I find out that the press know the exact details of a trade that I am discussing, how do I have honest discussions with that GM again in the future? I may not want Player X to know that I am thinking of trading him, as the likliehood of me completing a deal is so low, but there it is all over the media...