I see both sides of the story...

Truly, I do. But that doesn't mean that I have to be happy about it.
Honestly, I was a little choked up when at 4:02 the airwaves were abuzz with the sketchy details. And then I was really irritated when I heard the details of it all unfold.

I wouldn't have made this trade.
I think that we can "call it a season" unless something dramatically improves with the pitching staff.

I'm not taking anything away from Jason Bay. He's a good ball player and has great stats -- and has youth. He's a nice guy, the clubhouse will love him. Okay, I get that. But in essence, straight up for Manny? And oh by the way -- we had to let two other guys go that while not working for us, still have value to obtain other people? So we let three people go to gain one. And what we really needed was a strong middle reliever and possibly another dark horse starter?

If I take my emotion out of it, and look at it from a purely business perspective -- I know that Manny's productivity is declining. It's not bad by any stretch - but it's not what it was a few years ago. So if we held onto him for another year -- and then tried to trade him, his value may be markedly less. As it is, due to his persona and tantrums - no one was chomping at the bit for him as it was. So what we can get for him today is better than what we may have gotten for him tomorrow. I get it.

And then of course there's the rumored talk behind closed doors of how the veterans told Theo that Manny has become unbearable throughout all of this. Then it definitely would make sense for management to make a move. Because the clubhouse guys are the ones that have to deal with him day in and day out.

At the same time, I'd have kept him - and used him for what we were paying him for. As a racehorse. He'd have had to play, especially if he was going to be trying to command a $100M contract for four years at some point as was the thinking . If he didn't perform -- bench him. That would certainly show him who was boss. Keeping Manny's bat in the lineup and trading for middle relief would've kept us in the race for this year. Which truthfully, I don't know that I think we've got the pieces to that puzzle now. Not because Manny was the key; but because we had other holes to plug. And I'm sorry, when you've got men on base and two outs -- who else do you want to see up at bat? 'Nuff said.

But I didn't have to work with the guy - so easy for me to say, right?

Here's the bigger issue in my mind. Every team around us has gotten better with this trade season. The Angels -- look so hot right now. The Yankees did exceptionally well I think, although I know last night's game didn't fare well for them -- just to name a few.

Listen, I'm not throwing in the towel by any stretch. It just doesn't look promising at the moment. And I'm just not convinced that this was the trade to have been made for this year.

I still love Manny. I loved every minute of "Manny being Manny" as a spectator. Sure it got ugly towards the end, and that's unfortunate. But I will absolutely unequivocably miss him in the lineup tonight and every night thereafter. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

On a sidenote.... I think I now have another reason as to why I don't love Heidi Watney. Yes, I still think she's not good at what she does, and yesterday's "on the fly" reporting really solidified that. But there's another reason that's floating around...and that will be a rant for another day. But be sure that it's coming...