Manny Ramirez doing something that is typical of the behaviour of Manny Ramirez

Look who's talking!

Once again, Manny Ramirez is unhappy with the Boston Red Sox.

"I'm tired of them. They're tired of me," Ramirez said, according to The Associated Press, before Sunday night's game against the New York Yankees.

In an interview with ESPNdeportes.com earlier Sunday, Ramirez said that he will not block a trade if the Red Sox want to go in that direction.

"If the Red Sox are a better team without Manny Ramirez, they should trade me; I will not object," he said.

"I don't have any preferences. I could choose a team that offers me the best conditions or one in the chase for the postseason. I don't care where I play, I can even play in Iraq if need be. My job is to play baseball," added Ramirez.

OK so that's it right? Say goodbye to Manny? Somehow I doubt that. We've been here before. Manny asks for a trade - actually this time he hasn't asked for a trade, just said that he won't block one - and everyone assumes they're going to trade him. Although, until now, they haven't. Why not?

Well, for one thing, he can hit. And as far as I know, these periods of discontent haven't affected his hitting, nor the team's ability to win. And they usually blow over within a few weeks. Besides, whenever he complains, you would think his trade value takes a hit. So is it worth it to take a hit in talent to improve the clubhouse chemistry, or whatever? That's not something the Sox have been willing to do before, and you can say their strategy has worked, considering the two World Series wins. If they can make a good baseball move, and improve the team, they'll do it, but I really don't think they're going to trade him just because he's unhappy.

Billy Beane - Quantity over quality?

In the past couple of weeks, the A's have dealt Rich Harden and Joe "Buju" Blanton for prospects. I guess you could say that it's courageous of the organization to stick to the plan of building for the future rather than the present, despite a team that finds itself surprisingly close to contention. It can't be too popular among some fans who would like to see them go for it now while they have a shot.

In all the recent trades, including the Dan Haren and Nick Swisher deals before the season, the A's have gotten a lot of prospects, though many people, including Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus, have wondered if they could have gotten better prospects. We already know that Beane is an unconventional general manager. The question is, why is he trading top players for apparently low returns?

In an age where the top draft picks require multi-million dollar signing bonuses, many of the best young players are off-limits to a frugal team like the A's. So if you eliminate the true blue-chip prospects, what if the numbers show that second-tier prospects don't pan out as often as many teams think? This is pure speculation on my part, but Beane may have decided that the best way to put together a contending team is to throw enough shit against the wall and hope that some of it sticks; acquire as many prospects as possible, and statistically you'll end up with more bonafide major leaguers, or even more stars.

He got six players for Haren and Connor Robertson, and already Dana Eveland and Greg Smith have exceeded expectations. Is it a fluke? Did he know something about these two players that no one else knew? Or was it just probable that, of the nine youngsters acquired in the offseason, two would pan out right away?