Ramirez brings bat and baggage to L.A.

"It's crazy," said Torre. "This is a huge 'get' for us."

It is actually two "gets" for the price of none.

They do not have to pay someone who immediately becomes their best hitter. And, because of his impending free agency, they are not obligated to tolerate his nutty behavior beyond this season.

He is probably here only for two months, but with a swing that is as unshakable as his smile, he is capable of carrying the Dodgers every day of those two months.

"Three months," corrected Dodger owner Frank McCourt, adding a month for the playoffs and World Series. "We're going to have a great three months of baseball."

It was Boston native McCourt who pushed for this deal Thursday morning, just hours before the trading deadline, when he realized that the Red Sox were truly serious about dealing their recurring headache.

In the weak National League West, one hitter could elevate his pitching-rich team to the top. And amid the inexperienced National League teams that will make the playoffs, one hitter could provide the postseason difference.

Ramirez, even at age 36, is still clearly that hitter, leading the Red Sox with 20 home runs and ranking second with 68 RBIs at the time of the trade.

"This team has hung in there all season with all these injuries. This is about giving them a chance to go for it," said McCourt. "This is about paying back our loyal fans and rewarding our hard-working team."

The fans will get it, and were already loudly cheering just the scoreboard announcement of the trade Thursday night.

The clubhouse may be a more difficult sell, particularly because Ramirez not only creates distractions, but a total of five potential starting outfielders.

"This is why we have a guy like Joe Torre as manager," said McCourt.

Indeed, other than the Red Sox's Terry Francona, probably the only other current major league manager who can handle Ramirez is Torre, who constantly dealt with wacky late-season acquisitions with the New York Yankees.

Torre, who was constantly haunted by Ramirez during the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry, said, "It's funny, but I did everything I could not to have to see him again, and all of a sudden he's showing up in the uniform I'm wearing."

He smiled. "It's pretty special."

Pretty strange. Pretty, yeah, pretty special.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.

To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.