With less than 24 hours before the trade deadline, the Red Sox are engaged in serious conversations to trade Manny Ramirez to the Florida Marlins, as well as other teams. If the Red Sox make a deal with the Marlins, it is likely they would kick in money to offset Ramirez's salary, and they would look for three young players in return -- perhaps outfielder Jeremy Hermida or outfielder Josh Willingham, plus pitchers.

The Red Sox have gone down this road many times before with Ramirez, seriously discussing a deal before pulling back -- but what might be different this time is that Ramirez apparently has just two months of regular season with the Red Sox, and Boston could be asking the internal question of how invested Ramirez will be in the last days of the year.

Let's not start saying our goodbyes yet. He never has run out ground balls and I doubt that was the straw that broke the camels back with the FO. It's been this close before and nothing has happened.

Yea, let's not forget 3 years ago, when it was the 3 team deal with Tampa and the Mets, and the sox had all but acquired Crawford, Huff and prospects. Until there's an actual deal I'm not gonna listen to any of this. Just another chapter in the Manny saga for now.

Buh?!

Crawford was not in that deal at all.

i think we need to get maybin or miller from florida to pull this deal, what do u all think?

If Manny is gone I think it will be because so many Sox fans wrote him a blank check for 85% effort. Manny is a victim of his own devices enabled by those who failed to require him to grow up.

.....That being said one of the names being bounced around on ESPN News is Jeffery Allison which is a mistake, if I think. I mean I am rooting for the kid because of his local ties but it is really smart to bring back a kid who basically spent about a million dollars on using drugs in the Peabody area? I mean he gets sent home from the Marlins for drugs and then spends about a year in Peabody playing wiffle ball and doing more drugs and you want to bring him back to the area? No thanks.

Hermida is a very, very good prospect. With all the strikes against him (little time in AA and zero time in AAA, playing in the definition of a hitters park in the middle of a horrible batting order) he is still only 24 years old and was one of the highest rated prospects in baseball for a few years. Package him with a couple of good pitchers and I might be ok with dealing a sure-fire, first ballot Hall of Famer away in the middle of a pennant race.

That being said one of the names being bounced around on ESPN News is Jeffery Allison which is a mistake, if I think. I mean I am rooting for the kid because of his local ties but it is really smart to bring back a kid who basically spent about a million dollars on using drugs in the Peabody area? I mean he gets sent home from the Marlins for drugs and then spends about a year in Peabody playing wiffle ball and doing more drugs and you want to bring him back to the area? No thanks.

Manny looks headed to Miami

by John Perrotto

Multipe baseball sources say the Red Sox are on the verge of sending disgrunted left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Marlins in a trade for a package of three players that included low Class A Greensboro outfielder Mike Stanton, an 18-year-old who is hitting .275/.351/.569 with 26 home runs in 96 games.

Ellsbury
Pedroia
Drew
Ortiz
Youkilis
Lowell
Hermida
Lowrie
Varitek

I mean, it's not the 27 Yankees but that's a pretty good lineup to run out there every night. We all saw the show that JD Drew put on when he batted third with Ortiz out and Youkilis could do a good job of protecting Ortiz.

If Manny Ramirez name is not in the lineup for tonight game then that could give a huge hint of being traded.

That being said one of the names being bounced around on ESPN News is Jeffery Allison which is a mistake, I think. I mean I am rooting for the kid because of his local ties but it is really smart to bring back a kid who basically spent about a million dollars on using drugs in the Peabody area? I mean he gets sent home from the Marlins for drugs and then spends about a year in Peabody playing wiffle ball and doing more drugs and you want to bring him back to the area? No thanks.

Few things. He's a mL pitcher so he will be in a mL city, not Boston.

EDIT: He wasnt ranked that highly by most sources entering the season - he was seen as a raw, toolsy athlete. This production set him up for a huge jump, though.

A highly-placed Phillies source has shot down speculation that they will acquire Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox for Pat Burrell in an exchange of left fielders, saying "that is not going to happen and was never going to happen." If the Red Sox do find a taker for Ramirez, they may make a late run at Pirates outfielder Jason Bay, if they're not beaten to the punch by the Rays. The Red Sox have the type of high-ceiling prospects the Pirates want to restock a bare farm system.

Last time I checked Pawtucket, Lowell and Portland are all within driving distance of Peabody...

I like the idea Stanton coming back, even though he is a long way off, but not if it means that we don't get Hermida or Willingham from the Marlins. I'd rather take the established, talented major leaguer and a lesser prospect than the inverse. If we do get Hermida and Stanton, that outweighs what Atlanta got for Texeria so I will be a happy camper (which is obvously the benchmark trade for the deadline so far).

Stanton has been RIDICULOUS, btw:
...

Idk about that -- Florida has a really strong minor league system and he almost cracked their Top 10 prospect list before the season and was given the title of best athlete and most power in the organization by Baseball America. And when you're considered a better athlete than Maybin -- well, that's saying something.

Mike Stanton, OF, Low-A Greensboro (Marlins)
A second-round pick last year out of a California high school, Stanton looked very raw in his 2007 pro debut, going 9-for-56 with 21 strikeouts. A player who backs up his 6'5" frame with outstanding athleticism, Stanton has undergone one of the biggest breakouts in the minors the year, going deep Friday and Saturday to give him 18 home runs in 265 at-bats and an overall line of .291/.349/.581. There are still some huge steps that need to be made in Stanton’s approach, as he’s struck out 90 times so far while drawing just 16 unintentional walks, but this kind of production, especially on the power side, from an 18-year-old in a full-season league is very special, and Stanton’s prospect status is going through the roof.

Looks like #s approaching Manny's -- except for the Ks and walks... and it being A ball.

Manny in three-way deal that includes Marlins, Pirates?

A new wrinkle has been added to the Manny Ramirez to Marlins' scenario. A source told MLB.com that a three-way trade may be in the works.

Under this scenario, Ramirez would go to the Marlins, while Jeremy Hermida would go to the Pirates, and Jason Bay would go to the Red Sox.

The Marlins are not afraid to roll the dice and gamble. Team president David Samson, when asked on the team's flagship station, 790 The Ticket, was asked about the Manny Ramirez rumors.

"The Marlins always seem to be in the middle of everything," Samson said. "I don't know how we do that every deadline. We're spending all day trying to figure out a way where we can get better, to stay good, to try to figure out a way how we could win this thing. Everything is possible."

Not a fan of a straight Manny for Bay swap. The great thing about Hermida is he is only 25 years old.

The deadline to trade players without going to waivers is Thursday at 4 p.m. ET. As a player with 10 years in the majors and five with the same team, Ramirez has the right to veto any deal. If he waives a trade to a team, he must sign paperwork 24 hours prior to the deal.

"They haven't asked me for anything," Ramirez said told ESPNdeportes.com's Enrique Rojas on the phone from Fenway Park before the Red Sox-Angels matchup on Wednesday night.

"The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me," Ramirez said. "During my years here I've seen how they [the Red Sox] have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them to try to turn the fans against them.

"The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy," Ramirez added. "I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don't deserve me. I'm not talking about money. Mental peace has no price and I don't have peace here."

...Well, for a very toolsy 18 year old in A ball, that's extremely impressive.

EDIT: This guy has crazy raw power - something we're always desperate for. Him and Hermida would be a nice return, IMHO. If the rumblings that a pitcher is coming too are true, that would be great. Id be delighted with that deal. We'd still have a great chance to get hot and win this year and we would be twice as well positioned going forward. I say do it.

Details of possible Manny deal

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | Print Entry

Posted by Jayson Stark
Officials from teams around the sport are now beginning to hear details about the structure of the Manny Ramirez deal. According to one of them, the three players the Red Sox are seeking from the Marlins for Ramirez are Jeremy Hermida, pitcher Ryan Tucker and big-time outfield prospect Mike Stanton. However, the two sides also have discussed substituting Josh Willingham for Hermida.

7. Ryan Tucker, RHP
DOB: 12/6/86
Height/Weight: 6-2/190
Bats/Throws: R/R
Drafted: 1st round, 2005, Temple City HS (CA)
2007 Stats: 3.71 ERA at High-A (138.1-142-46-104)

Year In Review: The best pure arm in the system continued to frustrate the organization, this time with a so-so showing at High-A Jupiter.
The Good: Tucker gets excellent leg drive and consistently pumps out mid-90s gas, touching 98 at times. He has a remarkably quick arm and a powerful frame that allows his fastball to park at those velocities throughout the game. His command has improved dramatically since signing, and he earns high praise for his makeup.
The Bad: Tucker's secondary offerings still lag well behind his fastball, as his slider tends to flatten out more often than not, and his changeup is rudimentary. Many wonder if he could be far more effective in a bullpen role, believing that he could sit at 97-98 mph if he only had to throw 15-20 pitches per outing.
Fun Fact: Tucker made just eight of his 24 starts at home, but had a 2.13 ERA in those outings.
Perfect World Projection: For now, the Marlins will keep him as a starter, knowing that significant innings are required for Tucker to work on his off-speed pitches. If those come around, he has more potential than many pitchers above him. If not, he's bullpen-bound.
Timetable: Tucker will begin 2008 in the Double-A rotation, and everyone will know more about his future role by the end of the year.

Tucker is arguably the story of the Marlins system this year. Part of the bevy of pitching prospects that Florida selected in the 2005 draft, Tucker has always had the best arm strength of any of them, but problems with command, focus, and finding a consistent breaking pitch have kept him from taking the big step forward that his mid-90s velocity readings have always seemed to portend. This might be that year, as Tucker has absolutely dominated this year, pitching shutout baseball in four of his seven starts, never allowing more than two runs in any outing and compiling a 0.89 ERA in 40.1 innings.

id rather Bay, he would be the closest thing to manny's production, more then hermedia

by Will Carroll

I’m hearing that a multi-team deal involving Jason Bay and the Florida Marlins is in the “final stages.” This could involve the previously in-place dealings involving Manny Ramirez as reported by our own John Perrotto. Joe Frisaro of MLB.com thinks that Bay could end up in Boston, Jeremy Hermida in Pittsburgh, and prospects flying every which way. My sources agree, though I will update as details become clearer.

I'm on record here as believing that Manny's reputation has been damaged as much by his actions as anything the FO or media has put put there. That said, it's hard to argue with Manny's charge the the FO attempts to demonize players they are either not going to sign or plan to trade.

Look at what's happened over the past week and a half. Gammons attacks Manny's character in an ESPN.com piece. Jerry Remy claims that Manny has changed and is not the same guy he once was. Even Tom Caron, who never criticizes a Sox player, said last night that perhaps things have reached the point where Manny's distractions outweigh his production.

Is it a coincidence that suddenly Manny is getting slapped around from all sides of the media? It's hard to imagine that it is.

If the FO thinks it's time to move Manny, I'm fine with that as long as they get appropriate return for him. I don't need them to convince me that Manny is a bad guy. I don't think he his. Most fans don't either. In fact, most fans like Manny and appeciate what he has given this franchise.

I don't need the Red Sox telling me how I should feel.

Or maybe Caron, Remy, and Gammons were just being honest? And maybe Manny has brought this all on himself?

They didn't do this to his image, HE did. He's their player that they have signed, and all he does every year around this time is start mailing it in (usually until after the deadline and he realizes he isn't going anywhere).

The FO didn't hurt Manny's image; Manny hurt Manny's image.

That said, it's hard to argue with Manny's charge the the FO attempts to demonize players they are either not going to sign or plan to trade.

Or maybe Caron, Remy, and Gammons were just being honest? And maybe Manny has brought this all on himself?

They didn't do this to his image, HE did. He's their player that they have signed, and all he does every year around this time is start mailing it in (usually until after the deadline and he realizes he isn't going anywhere).

The FO didn't hurt Manny's image; Manny hurt Manny's image.