Epstein

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, a guest on WEEI Radio’s Dale and Holley Show, said yesterday he feels the Red Sox made a good trade last week when they traded Manny Ramirez and two other players for Jason Bay.

Co-host Michael Holley began the interview by referencing Epstein’s comment, following the 2004 trade of Nomar Garciaparra, that he had to take sleeping pills because of anxiety over the move. Holley asked what Epstein had to do to get to sleep on the night after the Ramirez trade.

“Nothing,” the GM said. “I went right to sleep.”

Epstein added, “We were not pleased with the situation we were in” with Ramirez on the team, and said the Sox were “pleased with the outcome” of the trade.

He said the club’s offer to pay all of Ramirez’s salary for the remainder of the year was necessary to generate interest in the slugging left fielder. And while it was “unfortunate” that the Sox had to throw in outfielder Brandon Moss and relief pitcher Craig Hansen to land Bay from Pittsburgh, “that is a trade we would make any day of the week” during the offseason. With it already a foregone conclusion that Ramirez would not return next season, in other words, the team would have been happy to part with Hansen and Moss to get a replacement of Bay’s caliber.

Epstein said that while Ramirez and the club have had an up-and-down relationship over the years, “ultimately he got traded because of certain things that occurred that it got to a point where things were different than they were in the past,” adding that the information the team has on the situation “is more than you guys have.”

When asked about polling veteran players about Ramirez, as The Providence Journal’s Sean McAdam reported happened before Manny was traded, Epstein said his philosophy was that “there are times when there are things that are so poignant and so significant to a club, and to the individuals in that clubhouse, that the distraction becomes real and it becomes an actual impediment to winning baseball games.”

Epstein described Bay as “a very solid offensive player. He projects to be just a tick below Manny offensively. … He’s a very solid defensive left fielder. He runs the bases very well, and he’s a good teammate.”

Epstein also said that while he understood the concern by some fans and commentators that David Ortiz’s production would suffer without Ramirez’s protection in the lineup, he felt the concern was not legitimate.

“It just doesn’t match up with reality,” Epstein said. “If you look up the numbers … in David Ortiz’s entire career with the Red Sox, his OPS with Manny hitting behind him is identical to his OPS without Manny hitting behind him.”

While Epstein acknowledges that Red Sox management could perhaps have handled certain situations involving Ramirez better, he defended anyone on the club against suggestions that they enabled Ramirez’s behavior. He said there frequently have been cases involving players where action was taken that was not disclosed publicly.

“We will deal with things that come up. I feel the one thing we will not do is parade around and tell people what’s going on behind the scenes, just to make ourselves look good,” he said.