Scott Carson

Stats man Scott Carson is now in his 17th season as "third man in the booth" during Blue Jays telecasts. Watch for his columns regularly on Sportsnet.ca.

One big deadline has come and gone, and after the dust settled, the Yankees have improved, the Red Sox have regressed, the Rays and Jays have stood pat and the Orioles are, well, still the Orioles.

One big deadline has come and gone, and after the dust settled, the Yankees have improved, the Red Sox have regressed, the Rays and Jays have stood pat and the Orioles are, well, still the Orioles.

Let’s start with the Red Sox. The rumours started over the weekend when "Manny Being Manny" started to grow old very quickly. In my mind, full marks to Red Sox GM Theo Epstein for letting the baseball world know that the inmates don’t run the asylum.

Manny Ramirez climbed up on his soap box and told everyone who would listen that the Red Sox didn’t respect him and might be better to move him. If the Red Sox had not won the World Series in 2004 and ’07, there’s no way this deal would have even been considered. But Epstein, realizing that the Sox won two titles over the past four seasons, acknowledged that they weren’t so desperate to keep Manny, and could save a lot of scratch by sending him west.

They would have most certainly declined his $20-million option for 2009, saving a PR disaster, but now have Jason Bay under their control through next season. And they get a player of equal ability, statistically, over the past two seasons, with only a fraction of the headache.

The Yankees recognized their shortcomings and reacted. With Hideki Matsui out indefinitely, there was a big hole in the outfield and DH. Xavier Nady brought a .330 average over from the Pirates and has slammed a pair of home runs in his first six games in pinstripes. Damaso Marte represents the perfect left-hander that has been lacking. And now, with Jorge Posada lost for the balance of the season, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez gives the Yankees their best defensive catcher EVER.

While his offensive skills have slowly deteriorated, Rodriguez won’t be expected to carry the load, just complement the other all-stars. The cost for all this was prospects and Kyle Farnsworth. The Yankees are much closer, talent-wise, to the Red Sox than they were 10 days ago.

As for the rest of the AL East, the Rays, Jays and Orioles all stood pat. With the long-term plan for continued success it’s not surprising that the Rays are going to play on with what they have. Whether they’ll be able to hang onto first place remains to be seen, but with more quality at AAA the decision to keep what they have is a smart one.

The Jays, as is their modus operandi, did nothing as they look ahead to 2009. A.J. Burnett was the only player that contenders may have wanted, and he may yet be traded before Sept. 1, but with Dustin McGowan lost for the season, and David Purcey and Scott Richmond with a grand total of four career major league starts, the Jays rotation is brutally thin. Any thoughts of just finishing .500 rest squarely on Burnett’s shoulders.

As for the Orioles, who cares quite frankly. They are several years and several trades/free-agent signings from even thinking about the playoffs.

MANNY GOES HOLLYWOOD

Ramirez gives the Dodgers an instant power boost. Out of respect for the veteran manager, he should play hard for Joe Torre. With former 50-home run slugger Andruw Jones now weighing 80 pounds more than his batting average, and just 2 HR and 13 RBIs this season, Manny will be expected to pick up the slack. It says here he will and the Dodgers should be able to wrestle first place in the NL West away from the Diamondbacks.

PIRATES REBUILD

The Blue Jays could learn a lot from the Pirates at the deadline. Putting pride to the side, Pittsburgh realized that the playoffs in 2008 -– heck, they haven’t had a sniff of the post-season since 1992 -– were not an option and started to move assets to improve their lot in life, as J.P. Ricciardi is apt to say, moving forward.

So Bay, the 2004 NL Rookie of the Year, is now under the microscope in Boston, forced to replace one of the top offensive players of this generation. But in return, the Pirates restocked the franchise. Three of the four players they got when the dust settled are major leaguers. Andy LaRoche will take over as the everyday third baseman, Brandon Moss will replace Bay in left and should blossom under less pressure in Pittsburgh, and Craig Hansen, if handled properly, should be a solid late-inning reliever.

As for the fourth player received, pitcher Bryan Morris, whose name first surfaced back in the day when the Jays first started to shop Carlos Delgado, is the only player with upside. And with the previous deal, which sent Nady and Marte to the Yankees, the Pirates have added a number of players to rebuild/retool. Nothing wrong with that, eh?