WOW... Manny is a Dodger

And we all thought the Casey Blake deal was going to be it!

I'm absolutely stunned at how easily it was for the Dodgers to trade for Manny Ramirez today. Seriously, it's highway robbery. To trade for a future Hall of Famer without giving up any of the current players shows that Ned Colletti knows what he's doing after all.

For those of you not in the know (or you've been hiding in a cave today), the Dodgers got Ramirez by only giving up 3B Andy LaRoche and SP Bryan Morris, who were then shipped to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jason Bay. In all, the Pirates got 4 Minor League players (2 more from the Sox), the Sox got Jason Bay, and the Dodgers got one of the best hitters in baseball.

LaRoche was once one of the top prospects in the Dodgers' organization, but he hasn't done a lick in the Bigs. In 2 years, he's hitting a meager .217, and only .203 this year. Morris may be a good player one day, who knows. But he is coming off of Tommy John surgery last year, so he's expendable.

Ya, I REALLY like this deal.

I was just on my way out the door when my other Dodger friend called me and said they got him. At the time, only CNNSI had the story. The only thing it said was something like "Manny is a Dodger." And that was pretty much it. But thank God, it was true.

Obviously, this is just the type of player the Dodgers need to content. In a weird way, it's pretty much an insult to Andruw Jones, and an embarrassment to him that he couldn't come close to getting the job done. If Jones was playing well, I'm not sure this would have happened. Good job, Jones. You suck.

Anyway, this will now create a logjam of outfielders, but it's a good problem to have. Manny will be in left field, and I would think Matt Kemp would still play everyday in either center or right. So now it's up to Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre, and Jones to figure the rest out. I like Ethier getting the nod, but that's a whole lot of money to sit on the bench. As Joe Torre said, now would be the perfect time for a DH.

The next challenge is for the Dodgers to step up and score runs. They're out of excuses. They got Manny, a proven RBI machine. Casey Blake is a very capable hitter, and certainly an upgrade over LaRoche and Blake DeWitt. If Rafael Furcal can come back healthy (a huge IF), then the Dodgers' offense may actually be fun to watch. Wow, I never thought I would say those words!

Oh ya, one last thing: THANK YOU NED COLLETTI!!!