I had no problem with letting Nomar go.  I thought he was overrated and more trouble than he was worth.  Same with Pedro.

But Manny?  He’s the backbone of the team.  He rocks. 

On the other hand, he’s such a prick:

On Wednesday, he spoke by telephone with ESPNdeportes.com.

"The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me," Ramirez said. "During my years here I’ve seen how they have mistreated other great players when they didn’t want them to try to turn the fans against them. The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me.

Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy. I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don’t deserve me. I’m not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don’t have peace here."

Boo-fucking-hoo.  Manny, you’re getting paid an unbelievable sum of money to do what most people would give up their first-born to do.  Stop the whining.

The trade deadline is 4:00 p.m. today.  The latest news is that the Red Sox, Marlins, and Pirates are in a three-way talk for a deal that involves Manny:

The Marlins would trade outfielder Jeremy Hermida and a prospect for Ramirez, and the Red Sox then would flip Hermida and prospects to the Pirates for left fielder Jason Bay. Pirates left-handed reliever John Grabow also is in play, possibly headed to the Marlins.

MLB.com says (at 10:59 a.m.) that this deal "appears close"

Bay for Manny isn’t a bad deal….

	Player		TEAM		POS		G		AB		R		H		2B		3B		HR		RBI		TB		BB		SO		SB		CS		OBP		SLG		AVG
	M Ramirez		BOS		OF		100		365		66		109		22		1		20		68		193		52		86		1		0		.398		.529		.299
	J Bay		PIT		OF		106		393		72		111		23		2		22		64		204		59		86		7		0		.375		.519		.282

…especially when you factor in the "prick" factor….