My take is that this is a smart move by Ned for several reasons: one, this is a negotiation. We all know a five or six-year deal for Manny makes absolutely no sense for a NL team. Where’s he going to hit when his knees break down? At 33, Manny’s no spring chicken! Two, the team has been burned by long-term contracts in the past. Does Darren Dreifort’s infamous five-year, $55 million contract in 2000 ring any bells? Personally, I’d take Manny for three years at A-Rod money. He proved a lot to me during his short stint in LA, and the effect he had on the players both on and off the field was undeniable.

Plus, Ned has shown that he likes short-term contracts while in LA, and it probably kept him from getting fired this off-season. Could you imagine if the Andruw Jones and Jason Schmidt deals were for 4+ years??

I’m sure we’ll now see Scott Boras start talking about mythical offers from “unnamed clubs” in an effort to get Ned to bid against himself, but I think we’re long past the Boras shenanigans of old working in 2008 (God, at least I hope we are).

Your move, Manny…

Wow. Seriously, is there a better way word to describe this deal? Maybe unfathomable. Unbelievable. Extraordinary. Am I dreaming? Did the Dodgers really get Manny Friggin’ Ramirez for Andy LaRoche and a 21 year-old Class A minor league pitcher that’s already been through Tommy John surgery? Did I mention that the Red Sox are also reportedly picking up Manny’s salary? That’s like the bow on top of this gift from Theo Epstein. I was working at the X Games today, and my phone was ringing off the hook as fellow Dodger fans called to celebrate the news. Congrats to SI’s John Donovan for breaking the news.

Read my comments on an earlier Manny Ramirez post from Alex earlier today, and I was critical of adding Manny to the Dodgers for fear of the cost of what we’d have to give up as well as what might happen behind the clubhouse walls. I never imagined that we would get possibly the greatest hitter of his generation for practically nothing. Two months of Manny while in a tight pennant race is just too good to pass up, even if he’s just average. Plus, you have to remember that Manny’s teammates have loved the guy a great majority of the time. It’s the media and the front office that usually have the problem with him (and for extremely valid reasons, I might add). But the Dodgers know it’s just for two months, and Manny’s in a contract year, so he’ll be on his best behavior. Congratualtions Ned. I never thought you had this in you!

A few thoughts on “The Trade” from Dodger executives, the media and our fellow bloggers:

- From Tim Kurkjian (ESPN): “Three potential Hall of Famers were traded within 24 hours (Ramirez, Griffey Jr. and Ivan Rodriguez. The last time this happened was 1966 when Robin Roberts, Orlando Hernandez and Fergie Jenkins were moved…and that was over the course of several months.”

- From a giddy Frank McCourt: “He (Ramirez) is an elite athlete. As close as you can come to being an artist of the game….Certainly a baseball classic.”

- Understatement of the year from Joe Torre: “Manny in the middle of the lineup will certainly get people’s attention.”

- From Dodger Thoughts (the blog of all Dodger blogs): “If Ramirez replaces Pierre/Jones in the lineup, this deal makes the Dodgers a more serious contender to finish over .500 in 2008. (I kid! I think they can do even better.) It weakens the Dodgers beyond 2008, but honestly, there’s time enough to solve that.”

- From the good folks over at the Sons of Steve Garvey: “The right personnel on the field does not include Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre–BOTH OF WHOM ARE STARTING TONIGHT in what I hope is to allow the obligatory “farewell waves to the crowd” for at least one of those players. Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp simply cannot ride the pine if we hope to make a run.”

This last quote from “Steve Sax” really says it all. This move has got to mean that Jones has earned a permanent spot on the bench. The man is a strikeout machine and it’s becoming abundantly clear that Andruw has lost his mojo. Permanently.

I’ve got that “Welcome Back Kotter” song stuck in my head today as I prepare to celebrate our nation’s birthday with an afternoon of hot dogs and beer.

Yes, Nomar and Andruw are back, but is this good news for the Dodgers? The reality is, the Dodgers desperately need Jones’ bat if they want to advance in the playoffs. Word is that Jones has slimmed down a bit, worked on his swing and wants to help the team win now. Ned must have agreed, as the team brought him back on the road in San Francisco, rather than saving him for the upcoming homestand. That’s the kind of veteran enthusiasm the Dodgers need (and probably what Ned needs if he wants to save his job).

As for Nomar, how bad can he be at shortstop? Sure, it’s been four years since he last played the position, but Angel Berroa was batting .194 and Luis Maza was hitting a blistering .225. Jesus, maybe Ned can bring us some relief before the trade deadline…and I’m not talking about some over-priced veteran that’s due to breakdown for the remainder of the season.

Of course, with the good comes the bad: Rafael Furcal is predictably transferred to the 60-day DL where he is to undergoe surgery on his bad back. Realistically Furcal is done for the season, which is a huge disappointment for the club after getting such a strong start out of their oft-injured shortstop.

Well, Andruw Jones is officially out for 4-6 weeks, and I think I heard a cry of joy from Dodger Fans across the country. He’s headed under the knife and will miss approximately 4-6 weeks for rehab.

Now, having knee surgery probably won’t help Jones’ ongoing weight challenges any, but it does firm up a solid outfield lineup for the Dodgers in the meantime. Juan Pierre, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier should be good to go for the next four weeks at a minimum, and create a situation where Jones may have some motivation to get back in shape before rejoining the team to improve his prospects for the starting lineup.

A technical note – the Dodgers put Jones on the 15-day DL right before game time today, and nabbed Terry Tiffee from AAA Las Vegas for their official roster (likely to act as a PH). This bumps our friend Nomar to the 60-day DL, so he’s going to be away even longer than expected.

1.) Bench him indefinitely and recall Mattingly to work with this guy as a special project (isn’t that what Mattingly is on the payroll for?)  If this isn’t a “special assignment,” I don’t know what is.  Someone tell Torre to flash the Dodger logo up in the night sky. When Mattingly sees it, he will know the team’s in trouble and it’s time to return to the West Coast (“Donnie Baseball” is currently out working on an important assignment with the Great Lake Loons).

2.) Install a treadmill in the dugout and make Jones walk or run on it throughout every game.

3.) Banish him to AAA.  While this would be humiliating all the way around, it certainly would be more embarrassing for Tubbo.  Paul Oberjuerge has a great take on this as well – check it out.

Of all these options, I combination of #1 and #3 would be best (although I would LOVE to see option #2 put into place).  Think about it: sending Jones to the minors allows him time to escape the glare of the LA sports media and work on his swing with one of the true hitting legends of the game.  It allows the Dodgers to give Ethier some much needed at bats on a consistent basis and it sends a clear message to the rest of the team.  If the booing Dodger Stadium crowd wasn’t a wake-up call to Jones, an extended trip to Vegas certainly would be.  Who’s with me?

“I don’t care,” he said. “You play for the team, you don’t play for the fans. The fans never played the game. They don’t know.”

But they DO know Andruw.  They know when a guy has something seriously wrong with him and they do know how that $18 million annual salary impacts ticket prices, parking and food.  They also know when a guy is just going through the motions.

So get over yourself Andruw.  Lose the weight, work on your swing and for God sakes, at least pretend that you’re excited to be a professional baseball player.

In between sunburns, I did keep an eye on the team and loved what I saw. But is it a coincidence that the Dodgers were 8-1 while I was out of town? God, I hope so! A quick check at the scoreboard shows the team losing 7-2 going into the 9th inning today in Colorado, which means I might need to hop another flight to the islands ASAP. What can I say, I’m a giver.

According to Tony Jackson, the eight consecutive W’s is the Dodgers longest string of victories in two years. Oh, and did I mention the 70 runs scored over those eight games? What happened to that team that we started the season with? Seems that the Dodgers have finally found a way to hit, averaging over eight runs a game, but that begs the question: what the hell is wrong with Andruw Jones? The team is winning, the pressure should be off, yet Jones is still hitting just .164 with one home run and 4 RBI. This is shaping up to be another massive Ned Colletti bust unless they can figure out what is going on inside this guy’s head (or in this humble blogger’s opinion, his stomach).

Superman’s arch nemesis on the show was Bizzaro, a convoluted version of Superman for whom everything was reversed. He originally appeared in a Superman comic in 1958, but for our pursposes he surfaced on TV in the mid to late 1970s. “Good” meant “bad”, up was down, etc. You get the idea. I could never wrap my mind around Bizarro – I only know I didn’t like him very much and was waiting for Batman and Robin’s PSA to tell me not to accept a ride from strangers whenever Bizarro graced my TV.

Fast-forward to Andruw Jones’ recent appearance in Atlanta. The prodigal son returns to Atlanta and receives…a standing ovation. Huh? OK, this happens sometimes, but this guy up and left for a fat paycheck. Jones even described the situation while in Atlanta as follows:

It’s just different. You wish you could keep with the team you came up with. Everybody wants to be with one team for his whole career. But this is a business, and it happened. And sometimes you have to move on and start something new

Wow – an ovation. That’s southern hospitality for ya.

Now, let’s return to Jones’ recent predicament in L.A.. He’s a good 30 pounds heavier than when he was in Atlanta, his hitting productivity is in the toilet (he was hitting a whopping .157 as of last weekend) and had steadily moved from 4th in the lineup all the way down to 7th. Jones was even getting booed in Dodger Stadium. You heard me right, booed. I know we have some die-hard fans that make the pilgramage to Chavez ravine, but we have a lot of “arrive by the 3rd, leave by the 7th” bandwagoners as well. What gives?

My guess – this isn’t a Bizarro superhero clash at all. Atlanta fans aren’t showing any southern hospitality either. They’re cheering the Dodgers for taking Jones off their hands and saddling themselves with a fat paycheck to boot. Only time will tell who gets the last laugh (and playoff spot) out of this one.

Then again, he did get one hit and one run in both Friday and Saturday night’s games. Maybe the applause is working…