Bobby I’lltradeyou — Why trading Bobby Abreu for Manny Ramirez wouldn’t work for either team

By: Jon Morrill

This past week, rumors ran rampant about a possible deal between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies involving two little-known journeymen outfielders, Manny Ramirez and Bobby Abreu. Apparently they both have some offensive potential; one’s a Gold Glove winner, the other a former World Series MVP… or something. I didn’t even know that the Red Sox had won a recent World Series. I’m even told that the A-brew kid won a Home Run Derby somewhere–I don’t know, I’m not even that into baseball.
I hope you enjoyed that little exercise in sarcasm. Now, to the real story with a bit more of a focus–

The truth of the matter is that I’m both a Red Sox fan and a Phillies fan; lamenting and obsessing over both during the months of February through October. Ok, more like January thru December. And as such, I spent most of my weekend contemplating and pondering the leaked proposal of a Bobby Abreu/Manny Ramirez deal. It’s since been stated by the powers that be (starts with an `E’ and ends with an `SPN’) that the trade being completed is “highly unlikely”, but even with that said, the thought of having space cadet Ramirez from the planet Mannyworld aboard the starship Philadelphia still consumed my thoughts. The following is really just an outline of all of my thought processes over the past 3 days and is well open for debate, criticism, uproarious applause, anything.

Obviously, any mention of bringing an offensive juggernaut like Manny Ramirez to your baseball team is going to have your salivary glands running like an open faucet. Here are the obligatory career stats just to give the reader an idea of what Mr. Ramirez brings to the table. Over the past 12 years, Manny has hit for a .314 batting average with 435 home runs, 1414 runs batted in, and a slugging percentage of .599–.955 over the last 7 years. He’s good. He has his defensive deficiencies, but so does every other worthwhile dominant masher. When he’s got a bat in his hand, he’s Hercules in dreadlocks and baggy pants; and when he’s got a glove in his hand, he’s the baseball equivalent to the inept, scrawny nerds in the movie `Little Giants’–minus the Icebox and Junior Floyd.

Most of what I’m about to say about the deal-that-wasn’t is negative, so I’ll throw in the positives first. Manny Ramirez would be a huge and welcome addition to the Philadelphia Phillies, with his aforementioned offense and his cartoon-ish personality would certainly add some character to a clubhouse mostly devoid of it; aside from the occasional post-game pie in the face from utility infielder Tomas Perez. In addition, the stock of Bobby Abreu has skyrocketed since this past summer’s Home Run Derby where he demolished the record books by hitting a total of 41 home runs. At this point, his stock is a bit above his actual performance on the field, but that’s for later.

That being said, One Citizens Bank Way and the folks who inhabit it are lucky that owner Dave Montgomery happened to pin the tail on the right donkey when he hired GM Pat Gillick a month ago. Montgomery, in spite of himself, just so happened to pick a man smart enough to realize that what the Phillies need least right now is more offense; especially when it comes at a price like that of a Manny Ramirez. The Phillies play in a bandbox of a ballpark, even with the planned pushing back of the leftfield fence, and their offence–while certainly not the 1927 Yankees or even the 2003-present Boston Red Sox–is certainly more than adequate. Gillick knows full well that what the Phils truly need going into 2006 is an ace, or at the very least a pitcher who’s top shelf, because at this point Jon Lieber is still considered the ace of the staff. While effective and efficient for the most part in 2005, Lieber is no true ace and when contemplating giving up a player like Abreu, gaining a true staff ace should really be top priority. Thankfully for the Phillies, to Pat Gillick it is.

In addition, let’s get back to that tiny issue of Manny’s price tag. Ramirez is due $57 million over the next three years; a lot of coin even for a team that was fifth in payroll in 2005 and is projected to equal that in 2006. If the Phillies have all this cash to burn, why wasn’t it put to better, more needed use by throwing it in the Billy Wagner fire pit?

But my main point of contention with any deal regarding Abreu and Ramirez is how it would address the needs of both teams. Obviously most trades aren’t always fair to both sides of the deal, but in my opinion the Phillies would get absolutely hosed. Given what Boston’s needs are and what they’re likely to ask for in return for Ramirez, it could dramatically change Philadelphia’s lineup and in my opinion, it’d be for the worst. Let’s start off by examining the needs of both teams–Philly’s is pitching, pitching, and maybe some more pitching (ya know, just for a change of pace); and while Bean Town could certainly use some more pitching, they also could use a second baseman, a first baseman if Kevin Youkilis doesn’t work out and a centerfielder if Johnny Damon doesn’t re-sign. Let’s imagine that being the intelligent individuals that they are, Pat Gillick and the 586-headed monster that is Boston’s lack of a figurehead general manager worked out a deal in which Boston ate most of Ramirez’s salary in exchange for Philadelphia throwing in another player to help fill some of Boston’s holes in their starting nine. And let’s just say for the sake of hypothesis that that plug would be a second baseman, more specifically Philadelphia fan favorite, second baseman Chase Utley. I know seeing Chase Utley in another uniform would definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I can see how some GMs might be willing to sacrifice a talent like Utley when acquiring a talent like Ramirez.

If the deal happened tomorrow and the season started the day after, here’s what Philadelphia’s lineup would look like, one through nine: C Mike Lieberthal (guh), 1B Ryan Howard, 2B Abraham Nunez, 3B David Bell, SS Jimmy Rollins, LF Manny Ramirez, CF Aaron Rowand, RF Pat Burrell; (Burrell and Ramirez could switch corners). My first beef with this starting nine is the fact that both Ramirez and Burrell are butchers in the outfield, and from a defensive standpoint it totally defeats the purpose of bringing in a defensive stud like Aaron Rowand–a defensive rose sandwiched in between two thorns. Secondly, with Utley gone and presuming Nunez would slide into second base, that now totally defeats the purpose of bringing in a guy like Abraham Nunez who was brought in to platoon third with David Bell who hit a point or two better than my mom against right handed pitching last year.

Boston could also ask for OF Jason Michaels instead of Utley, which may be a little more realistic since we’re dealing with the hypothetical. Michaels is solid both offensively and defensively–he is seemingly always on base and provides adequate defense, although he platooned center last year with Kenny Lofton and if sent to Boston, it would be presumed that he’d patrol Fenway Park full time.

Regardless of whether it be Michaels or Utley who is sent packing along with Abreu, the deal works out nicely for Boston. They would either get an amazing, promising young talent in Utley or a solid offensive CF in Michaels, along with an all around player in Abreu. Abreu’s name is based mostly on his offense, especially after the Home Run Derby this year. He is a Gold Glove winner, although I don’t know how. It seems apparent to me, however, that only those who play close attention to the Phillies, (i.e. – nobody at ESPN) actually know how Bobby Abreu really is as a player. He isn’t the vastly overrated player who everyone saw at the All-Star Game hitting dingers left and right. He’s good, but he’s not that good. In fact, most Phillies fans will tell you that they would have rather seen Abreu go out in the first round of the Derby than what actually happened, because he was hardly the same player after the All-Star break. After his record setting performance on that balmy summer night in Detroit, Abreu hit just .260 with only 6 home runs–NL Rookie of the Year Ryan Howard hit over three times that in the same amount of time with 19 round trippers. On top of that, even if you look at Abreu’s numbers when they’re good, you have to realize that they’re usually performed in the third inning or before. The biggest knock on the Philadelphia corner outfielders was that neither Pat Burrell or Bobby Abreu are clutch, in any sense of the word. While Pat Burrell was hot in September when the Phillies were in the thick of the Wild Card race with the Astros, it didn’t change the fact that he ended up third in the majors in strikeouts with 160–second to only Adam Dunn and Richie Sexson, sure enough with Abreu twelfth in baseball with 134. And I’m sure you wouldn’t be surprised to hear me tell you that most of these K’s came with runners in scoring position in huge situations. Bobby Abreu doesn’t like being the guy at the plate with the game, series, or season on the line–and that would have been a tough pill for BoSox fans to swallow had the deal ever gone through, considering all the clutch performances by the Red Sox in the 2004 playoffs.

Again, all this was just mere speculation. There are a lot more intelligent people at work for both of these teams than me, and for the most part, I believe this deal to be dead in the water, if it ever had life in the first place. Personally, I don’t think the Red Sox could ever get true equal value for Manny Ramirez, and I definitely don’t think what the Phillies need is more offense as opposed to more pitching. With the Winter Meetings in Dallas starting this week, we should expect to see lots of big deals, maybe even involving these two players. Just don’t expect to see Manny in red pinstripes or Bobby in front of the Green Monster anytime soon.