As Rob Harding noted earlier on Hot Foot, the Red Sox and Marlins have been engaged in intense negotiations regarding disgruntled OF Manny Ramirez.
According to John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus, the two teams are on the verge of completing the deal. The package includes three prospects, notably Mike Stanton. Stanton is an 18 year old OF playing for the Class A Greensboro Grasshopers who is batting .275 with 26 HRs in 98 games.
At ESPN, Jayson Stark is reporting that there has been very little dialogue between the Rays and Pirates regarding Jason Bay today. Stark cites a potential trade of Manny Ramirez as potentially stalling the trade, because if the Red Sox deal Ramirez then they might pursue Bay as a replacement.
If this gets finalized, I’m shocked. Does a deal like this force Omar’s hand? The Phillies got Joe Blanton, Fish are very close to Manny – does Omar stick with his guns?
Thanks to Vines for the link.
Update 7:55 EST
MLB.com is now reporting that a three way deal may be in the works, that would send Ramirez to the Marlins, Jason Bay to the Red Sox, and jeremy Hermida to the Pirates. For what it’s worth, Ramirez and Hermida are still playing in tonight’s games
Update 9:57 pm EST
Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus says the Red Sox, Pirates and Marlins have agreed to a three-team Manny Ramirez deal, pending Ramirez waiving his no-trade clause and league approval.
Update 10:22 pm EST
Peter Gammons on ESPN stated that talks will continue into Thursday regarding the this three-way deal.
Something smells fishy about the Carroll report. No pun intended.
