Manny Who?

After the Bay for Manny deal there was a wide gulf between those of the Red Sox faithful who thought dealing Manny would damage the Sox hopes for a repeat and those who believed Bay would replace Manny's production sans the headaches. 18 games into his Red Sox career Bay has shown to be more than ample replacement.

Here are Manny's 2008 stats while with the Red Sox.

.299 average, 20 HR, 68 RBI, .398 OBP, .927 OPS in 100 games

Here are Bay's 2008 numbers while with the Red Sox

.347 average, 4 HR, 18 RBI, .398 OPB, .971 OPS in 18 games.


While Manny has posted even bigger numbers since going to LA, those are irrelevant because the situation is different in LA now that the options on his contract have been voided and he is playing for a new deal; motivation that would not have existed in Boston given it was highly unlikely the options would have been voided.

Jason Bay will not have a Manny Ramirez like career, however, he is an All-Star outfielder who, to this point, has replaced Manny's production in the line up and then some, and if Boston falters in their bid to repeat it will not be because of Bay's lack of production