With less than 24 hours before the trade deadline, the Red Sox are engaged in serious conversations with the Marlins and other teams to trade Manny Ramirez. If the Red Sox were to make a deal with the Marlins, they likely would kick in money to offset Ramirez's salary, and they would look for three young players in return -- perhaps outfielder Jeremy Hermida or outfielder Josh Willingham, plus pitchers.

The Red Sox have gone down this road many times before with Ramirez, seriously discussing a deal before pulling back. But what might be different this time is that Ramirez apparently has just a few months remaining with the Red Sox, and Boston could be asking itself how invested Ramirez will be in the last days of the season.