Manny Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers in a three-team deadline-beating blockbuster Thursday, sending the disgruntled future Hall-of-Famer out of Boston right as the pennant race starts to heat up.
The Red Sox will receive Pirates outfielder Jason Bay in the deal, while Pittsburgh gets third baseman Andy LaRoche and Class-A right-hander Bryan Morris from the Dodgers and outfielder Brandon Moss and reliever Craig Hansen from the Red Sox.
The Red Sox will pay all of the approximately $7 million remaining on Ramirez’s contract.
Ramirez should provide a major boost to the Dodgers’ offense, but his arrival will add to the crowd in the Dodgers’ outfield, which already includes Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones.
Moss, Hansen and LaRoche all have played in the majors. Morris, 21, was the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2006.
The deal could significantly tilt the balance of power toward the Dodgers in the hotly contested NL West race. The Dodgers began the day one game behind the Diamondbacks, whose only pre-deadline addition was reliever Jon Rauch.
For the Red Sox, meanwhile, the addition of Bay amounts to a coup, considering their need to replace Ramirez’s offense. Bay, who turns 30 on Sept. 20, is six years younger than Ramirez, and his .894 on-base/slugging percentage is nearly as high as Ramirez’s .927 mark this season.
The Red Sox also will retain Bay through next season at an affordable salary of $7.5 million. After that, Bay becomes eligible for free agency.
Ramirez will be a free agent at the end of this season. He waived his no-trade clause in exchange for the elimination of the two $20 million club options in his contract.
The Red Sox were fiercely determined to trade Ramirez, whose behavior on and off the field had become a significant distraction in recent weeks. After a proposed three-way trade involving the Marlins collapsed on Thursday, the Dodgers quickly emerged as the leading suitor for Ramirez.
Ramirez paved his way out of town, perhaps intentionally, by a recent series of actions unprecedented even in his checkered history.
Ultimately, the Red Sox decided that wasn’t worth the power Ramirez brought to the lineup — a .299 batting average with a team-high 20 homers and 68 RBIs this season. For his career in Boston, he was fifth in team history with 274 homers, sixth with 868 RBIs and ninth with a .312 average.