Jul 31st 2008 12:41PM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)

- The Red Sox, Marlins and Pirates are indeed working on a three-way deal that would send Manny Ramirez to South Florida, Jeremy Hermida and prospects to Pittsburgh and Jason Bay (and possibly reliever John Grabow) to Boston. The trade is still a long way from being completed, however, with the teams expected to haggle right up to the deadline on the prospects heading to the Pirates. The deal is fragile because it involves three teams and prospects from both Florida and Boston, so it could go right down to the wire, and there’s always a chance the deal collapses.

But there is also a different feeling in Boston this time around with Ramirez, much like the feeling in 2004 when GM Theo Epstein swallowed hard and got rid of the beloved Nomar Garciaparra. If the three-way deal with the Pirates collapses, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Red Sox would then deal directly with the Marlins. And remember this: while the Red Sox would love to have Manny Ramirez in their lineup in October, it won’t be as difficult as you’d think to replace his production over the final two months of the season because he is so poor defensively.

- GM Kenny Williams has already added future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox’s roster, but he might not be done. With Scott Linebrink on the DL and closer Bobby Jenks just off of it, Chicago is looking for bullpen depth. Williams and the White Sox have been connected with Oakland closer Huston Street for a few weeks now, and there are indications from the Windy City that he’ll make a final push to acquire him before the 4PM ET deadline. Eamonn Brennan has already covered the Nick Swisher-Street swap speculation already at FanHouse and correctly assumes that a deal is unlikely.Continue Reading