By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

If major league baseball games are still won by 25 players meshing their individual talents on the field into a cohesive team effort, then the Boston Red Sox did the only thing they could do on Thursday. They traded heavy-hitting Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, gave up two potential big leaguers in Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen, and got a solid player from Pittsburgh named Jason Bay in return.

There is another school of thought on this subject. I would be curious to see what Bill James – the statistical guru who changed the way people look at the sport – has to say about the trade. James is, after all, a valued adviser in Boston’s front office. He might be inclined to look at Ramirez’s statistical probabilities for the final two months of the 2008 season and say they would outweigh the potential achievements of Jason Bay.

James’s opinion wasn’t needed on this deal. Once principal owner John Henry told the Boston Herald in an email three weeks ago that he was “personally offended” by Manny’s initial attempts to talk contract in the middle of a pennant race, the handwriting was on the wall. This wasn’t about stats anymore. It had gotten personal.

Ramirez responded by sitting out games, failing to hustle on the field, and sending a message that distracted his teammates to the point where they lost five of six home games to New York and Los Angeles over the past week.

In the end, Ramirez poisoned Boston’s locker room with his month-long campaign to force a trade from Boston. Most of his teammates no longer could tolerate Manny’s behavior. And it impacted the way they played on the field. Boston made an uncharacteristic four errors against the Angels on Wednesday night along with a couple of mental mistakes.

The Red Sox cut their losses with Thursday’s trade, bringing in a 29-year-old left fielder who hit 22 homers and knocked in 64 runs for Pittsburgh. Red Sox veterans like Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis will welcome the British Columbia native into the fabric of the team while washing their hands of the Manny debacle.

The question still remains: Can the defending World Series champions outlast Tampa, New York and perhaps even Toronto in what shapes up to be a wild final two months of the season in the American League East – which is easily baseball’s strongest and deepest division.

General manager Theo Epstein solved a major problem by trading Manny. This past month’s distraction took priority over a more important task for the Red Sox’ GM. What did his team need to change in order to repeat as the best team in baseball?

There remain some serious doubts about the current roster: For instance, how can Boston revive the dead bats of Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp and Jason Varitek? Is rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie capable of making all the plays at a critical position in the heat of a pennant race? Can Theo still fix the bullpen, which has been leaky all season long?

Maybe the answer is now in-house. If Jason Bay can adequately replace Manny’s offense – and chances are good that he will within the confines of hitter-friendly Fenway Park – then the Sox can carry Varitek’s weak bat. Ellsbury and Crisp can platoon in centerfield now that Bay is the everyday left fielder. The platoon system may bring out the best in both players.

Boston also needs to get No. 1 starter Josh Beckett back in form. Otherwise, the starting pitching ranks with any other rotation in baseball.

The road to the top of the AL East looks like a race track filled with top NASCAR drivers. Tampa Bay didn’t make a major move on Thursday but the Rays could get Rocco Baldelli back off the disabled list soon. If the Woonsocket native can help out his team, that would be one of the great stories of this season.

Tampa Bay will soon call up lefthanded pitcher David Price – the top pick in the 2007 draft. Price is ticketed for the setup role to closer Troy Percival and could turn into this year’s version of Joba Chamberlain.

The Yankees also have strengthened themselves with two dynamic trades over the past week. And Toronto indicated it won’t be giving up by acquiring pure hitter Raul Ibanez from Seattle at the trade deadline.

The month of August should provide answers to a lot of the questions baseball fans are asking about their respective teams. And the Red Sox will start supplying some answers tonight when they get back into action with a new leftfielder in town.