Sports Redux: Now He Gives Them A Stand-Up Routine In L.A.

Well, that's over.

As you've probably heard by now, the Red Sox ended their relationship with Manny Ramirez, sending him to LA in a three-way deal that landed Jason Bay from Pittsburgh. Of course, to grease the wheels, the Sox had to send Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen away too, and they're still paying the rest of Manny's 2008 salary. There's not a lot of doubt who the motivated seller was here.

Dan Shaughnessy says this trade was as much a gift to Francona and the 24 other guys on the team as anything else. Gerry Callahan was probably chasing Manny's limo out of town and trying to pee on it. Peter Gammons is fired up. In LA, Bill Plaschke prepares readers for the coming of Manny, while Nomar Garciaparra says he's looking forward to sitting with Manny and laughing about being kicked out of Fenway.

One good way to gauge a trade is to listen to what the bad guys think. "If you are a Yankee fan you have to be excited big time," says Jason Giambi. "I am happy I don't have to face him anymore," said Derek Jeter. Joel Sherman says the Yanks can't possible be as afraid of Bay with the game on the line as they were with Manny. ESPN's Jayson Stark said yesterday "felt like Mardi Gras for the rest of the AL East".

Our Pittsburgh correspondent says he's looking forward (not really) to the latest rebuilding project. Gene Collier of the Post-Gazette says, "funny how the top player in any trade involving the Pirates never seems to end up a Pirate," but admits that Pittsburgh definitely leads the league in LaRoches. Amalie Benjamin catches up with Jason Bay, who sounds like he might be the most Canadian person in history: "I'm not going to hit 50 homers. I like to say I do a handful of things that are going to stand out. I try to be solid. First and foremost, I'm just trying to be me." We're going to guess that "Jason Being Jason" won't include bathroom breaks in the scoreboard or high-fiving fans. Or, in fairness, punching out team employees.

Ken Griffey Jr. got traded from Cincinnati to the White Sox; as someone pointed out, that means 1,118 career home runs got traded yesterday. And in case you need a bandwagon to jump on, the Cubs finished a four-game sweep and left Milwaukee looking like Atlanta in November 1864.