The Red Sox and Dodgers completed what is arguably the biggest trade of the MLB Trade Rumors era today, a nine-player swap featuring Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford moving to Los Angeles. The Dodgers clearly made the move with the intention of improving their chances to win both now and during the next several seasons, but for the Red Sox it was all about a fresh start.
As reported earlier, the Dodgers will assume all but $12MM of the approximately $271.5MM in contracts coming their way. Boston is getting what amounts to a financial fresh start, as their three highest paid players coming into the season (in terms of average annual value) are now off the books. After a disastrous end to last season and a disappointing 2012 season overall, most clubs would have been happy just clearing that much future payroll. Red Sox GM Ben Cherington did one better and acquired some quality prospects as well.
The four-player prospect haul is highlighted by two right-handers: Allen Webster and Rubby De La Rosa (pictured). The Cubs asked for the 22-year-old Webster in exchange for right-hander Ryan Dempster prior to the trade deadline but were rebuffed. Baseball America ranked him as the number two prospect in Los Angeles' system before the season, behind only Zach Lee. Webster was also ranked as the 95th best prospect in baseball before the season by the publication. He's pitched to a 3.55 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 22 starts and five relief appearances at the Double-A level this season, and Baseball America spoke to one team official who described him as a future number two starter in the Derek Lowe mold.
De La Rosa, 23, just returned from Tommy John surgery. He threw a dozen minor league rehab innings before making one relief appearance with the Dodgers earlier this week, but was sent down to Triple-A last night so he could be included in the trade as a player to be named later. Reports indicated that the Blue Jays may have claimed him off waivers, so pulling him back and waiting until the offseason to officially include him gets around that obstacle. De La Rosa made ten starts and three relief appearances for the Dodgers last year, pitching to a 3.71 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings. PitchFX confirms that he can run his fastball into the upper-90s and triple digits. Although Rubby was not eligible for this year's prospect lists, Baseball America considered him the third best prospect in the organization and 90th best prospect in the game prior to 2011. Like Webster, they called him a potential number two starter down the road.
The Red Sox have developed two above-average starting pitchers in Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz in recent years, but they whiffed on free agent contracts to John Lackey and (to a lesser extent) Daisuke Matsuzaka. Only two of their top ten prospects coming into the season were pitchers, and number four prospect Anthony Ranaudo has only thrown 37 2/3 innings due to injury this summer. They surrendered Casey Kelly to acquire Gonzalez last offseason, however 2011 first rounder Matt Barnes has since emerged as one of the best pitching prospects in the game. Boston's starting rotation has pitched to a 4.88 ERA this season, fourth worst in the AL and fifth worst in all of baseball. Not all prospects work out, but adding Webster and De La Rosa to Barnes gives the Red Sox some much-needing top-shelf pitching depth in the upper minors.
The two other pieces of the trade – Jerry Sands and Ivan De Jesus – project to be role players. The 24-year-old Sands is a right-handed hitting corner outfielder/first baseman who has hit .244/.325/.376 with four homers in 251 plate appearances with the Dodgers over the last two seasons. His big Triple-A numbers (.291/.363/.557 since last year) are somewhat inflated due to a hitter-friendly park in Albuquerque. Like De La Rosa, Sands was not prospect-eligible this year but Baseball America did consider him the team's sixth best prospect prior to 2011. There is some concern about his ability to hit right-handed pitching long-term – .589 OPS vs. RHP and .904 OPS vs. LHP in his limited big league time – but Fenway Park should boost his offensive output. He'll give the Red Sox some flexibility at three of the four corner spots.
De Jesus, 25, missed the start of this season with an oblique injury and has been up and down the last two years. He's hit .231/.282/.277 in 72 big league plate appearances and .301/.354/.416 in over 1,200 Triple-A plate appearances since the start of 2010. Again, those minor league numbers are inflated a bit by the offensive environment in Albuquerque. Baseball America ranked him as the team's 26th best prospect before the season in their Prospect Handbook, where they noted his ability to play three infield positions. With Nick Punto on his way to Los Angeles and Will Middlebrooks injured, De Jesus will provide some infield depth for the time being.
The big prize for the Red Sox is all the freed-up payroll, but the trade was not just a pure salary dump. Webster and De La Rosa have the potential to be impact big leaguers and both Sands and De Jesus should be able to carve out a niche at the Major League level. Three of four prospects figure to see time with Boston next month, and Webster should be in consideration for a job at some point next season. The Dodgers were able to swing all of their midseason trades without surrendering Lee and 2011 first rounder Chris Reed, a benefit to their willingness to absorb money. Boston essentially hit the reset button financially, all while adding some quality prospects in the process.
Photo courtesy of US Presswire.
Terrible…
I think you mean reset in the last sentence.
Love the trade for both sides. LA has the resources with a renewed winning mentality while BoSox free’d up $272M in overall monies.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this trade turns out in the next 5 years.
Cannot believe the players the Dodgers got and did not give up that much in return!
193M to next years team is giving up a lot in its own right.
They will make that money back by next seasons all star break with cable revenue, ticket sales will spike, post season sales, merch, advertising.
With the new CBA, they won’t be able to add much at all. I’m not knocking the Dodgers at all, they’re fine with the team they have but it won’t be easy to add to the rotation and stuff going forward.
Think you have it backwords.
Don’t shed any financial tears for either side – both teams seem to have more money than brains in the front office.
How did the Dodgers pull this off without including Zach Lee?!
EDIT: How did the Dodgers pull this off, period?
Many speculated Dee Gordon and Zach Lee would be included. Instead they gave up Webster + De La Rosa and De Jesus. In terms of player for player (no money issues) the Dodgers clearly got better worth because they didn’t mortgage much. When you take finances into account. the Sox have so much flexibility now.
Yes, that’s true about the flexibility. But Crawford could easily have a bounce back season. AGon is a top 5 (10 at most) hitter with premiere defense. And Beckett can/may flourish in the NL, and if he doesn’t, it’s okay because his contract doesn’t run 5+ years like the other two. His salary will be off the books in a few years.
I feel like the Sox gave up more to get AGon then the Dodgers did to get him, Crawford, & Beckett.
Really, we can’t know how this deal impacts Boston until we see where they spend the $ they saved. Looking at the offseason(s), I don’t see them “winning” this trade just because teams are more likely to sign their own premiere talent than let them go to free agency.
Well, yeah, the Dodgers are banking on bounce-back years (multiple years) out of Crawford and Beckett and if you think they CAN bounce-back, then it’s definitely a plus to the Dodgers who probably didn’t give up any huge pieces. On the other hand, that implies that Crawford and Beckett CAN’T bounce-back in Boston, which puts the Sox in a bit of a predicament wouldn’t you say? Personally, I would have preferred them to try and work out the issues to really get those bounce-back years here in Boston rather than trade them away, but if Crawford and Beckett are only going to rebound away from the Sox there’s only so much ownership and the GM can do.
I don’t think it’s fair to lump the two. Beckett is a lost cause in Boston, it seems. I agree that IF he is going to bounce back, it would have to be elsewhere. But Crawford was playing well this year, and is still young enough to bounce back anywhere he plays, in Boston, LA, or where ever else.
AGon USED to be a top 10 hitter. His power never seemed to translate to Fenway and the AL East the way people believed it would. Couple that with nagging back issues and who knows how he is going to age. At the level he was producing in Boston, no way is he worth the $20+ million/year that he was due to make for years to come.
Beckett is having a terrible year by his (and a lot of other people’s) standards and will likely benefit from a change of leagues and a new start after the chicken and beer fiasco last year. He definitely isn’t worth the huge contract that he has for years to come with the way he has performed lately.
Crawford I think will wind up being the player that might make this whole deal worthwhile for LA. Paying him what Boston was paying him for production that didn’t even match what mighty Daniel Nava accomplished the last 2 years was a bit of an overpay, don’t you think?
I think a better question is “how did Boston pull this off while only sending $12m to LA and getting back good young talent in return?”
by including two better prospects, de la rosa and webster and paying 260 million dollars
not sure if srs
de la rosa is indisputably better and webster, who was right behind lee when the year began, has arguably moved ahead himself with a very strong season (at the same level lee has been struggling with this year)
Except Lee is two years younger in the same league as Webster. I am not sure how De La Rosa is indisputably better when BA had him ranked 90 when he was last considered a prospect and have Lee at 62 now.
well i’ll help: the #90 ranking was prior to the 2011 season in which de la rosa rocketed from AA to the majors, where he pitched effectively at age 22
age v. level is a big deal and i don’t have anything bad to say about zach lee, but webster’s season has boosted his stock considerably
As a Dodger fan who follows our farm pretty closely, this is definitely accurate. By mid-season in 2011, De La Rosa was considered our top prospect.
I personally would have rather we given up Zach Lee, who I think has lower upside. But De La Rosa is major league ready and it would be unfair to keep him in the minor leagues being blocked by Kershaw, Billingsley, Beckett, Capuano, Harang, Lilly and Blanton… six of whom are signed through 2013.
How do you feel about the trade, overall?
from the original thread –
first and foremost, unlike most in boston, i like beckett and crawford. i hope and expect they’ll do well in LA. having said that, here’s how the deal essentially shakes out from boston’s perspective:
imagine beckett and crawford had team opt-outs in their current contracts for this upcoming offseason. the deal with the opt-out is that you either let the player go and cannot resign him to any kind of deal, or you bring him back for 2/$31M in beckett’s case and 5/$110M in crawford’s case. what would the red sox do?
even though i like the players, it’s pretty clear that they’d cut ties and happily let them walk. in that light, this trade is effectively adrian gonzalez for de la rosa, webster, sands, dejesus
that’s a solid return, but not a great one. straight up, the dodgers win that trade. but when you add back in the opt-outs they are also being granted and factor in money saved, the red sox have to be ecstatic overall
and the dodgers – at least for the next couple of years – should be pretty happy too. money aside, they just got a ton of talent for a very low prospect price
how they’ll make the money work in the future is a different question. if it sinks the ship, this trade will have been a disaster as many are already suggesting. if they say “damn the torpedos” and pay whatever it takes to remain competitive, then this trade will absolutely be a win
I think you’re doing a good job putting a positive spin on it. And it makes sense if you discount a few things…
First, Boston is a large market team, not small or mid market. They can and have spent money in the past. The fan reaction, financially speaking, could be a costly backlash to not fielding the best possible team. Look at the Mets.
Two, acquiring top talent via FA is getting harder and harder. Teams are locking up their cornerstones early. The chance that an impact bat such as Gonzalez landing on the market is low. We’re talking Kemp, Cano, Braun, Longo, etc… Despite what Boston fans are saying as soon as he got shipped out, I still see him as a top 5 or top 10 hitter in the league.
And Crawford for 5/110 is not bad either. If I’m Boston, I pick up that “option” to follow your example. Given Crawford was having a bad year, with injury/performance, he is only two years removed from being a dominant force at the top of a lineup.
Third, Dodgers farm has consistently been ranked in the bottom third (or bottom half, at best) of the league. Even if you see Webster as the top LA prospect, the haul as a whole seems mediocre. Especially given the package of Rizzo, Kelly, Fuentes the Sox gave up to get AGon.
Lastly, freeing up money is cool and all, but really, it only matters if they spend the money coming off the books wisely, and are able to sign players that do better in the next 5 years than Gonzalez and Crawford. You may think that’s possible, but after looking at the next two year’s free agent classes, I just don’t see it.
It’s a good trade for John Henry to save money. Don’t know why that would make the fans happy though…
several unnecessary assumptions in there
– unless you expected them to sign someone today, a day after the trade, you can’t draw any conclusions yet on whether this is about being cheapskates or (more likely) about regaining payroll & roster flexibility. i yap all the time about large-market owners needing to spend, but it’s way to soon to drop snark about henry’s wallet. in terms of contention, the only thing lost right now is 2012 – which was already lost
– did they acquire gonzalez through free agency? if not, i don’t see why you’re talking about the difficulty of acquiring an impact bat on the market. when was the last time they even did that? manny?
– crawford at 5/$110M is an easy pass for me – and i like him. boston doesn’t. he’s injured, hasn’t hit for 2 years, hasn’t played defense for two years, and is now 31. 5/$110M? no way. not even close. and i like him
– the dodgers farm is lousy because it’s only got one good thing in it: pitching. that’s the part boston got
short-term, dodgers do well
long-term, dodgers could do well, but it will be tricky
long-term, red sox do very well
short-term, red sox could do well, and it won’t be that tricky because they’ve got young talent and money to burn
I bring up free agency because they just saved a bunch of money on their car insurance by switching to Geico. Or by shipping three large contracts. Either way, they have a wad of cash to buy stuff with. Naturally, one would look to free agency to spend that cash. Yes, trade/extension is not out of the question, but for starters, that’s a lot harder, though not impossible. And second, why? To flip the prospects you just got for another bat? Seems redundant to me. Even if they pull that off, better than AGon?
What I’m saying is you cannot get another bat and value like Gonzalez through free agency. But okay, I’ll play along. Say they trade for an impact bat, don’t you think with the recent activities of the front office, players will be less likely to sign an extension?
Obviously, it’s about regaining roster flexibility. But I just don’t see who they can replace AGon with that will make this trade palatable.
Red Sox will be judged on HOW they spend the money they just saved. If they turn around and sign Greinke and Hamilton, then the referendum on the trade becomes AGon/Crawford vs. Greinke/Hamilton. Hypothetical scenario, but you get what I’m saying.
Also, Mariners, Pirates and Diamondbacks (off the top of my head) are also pitching heavy, but they are ranked way ahead of Dodgers. Probably because their prospects are more valuable.
and mike trout is better than bryce harper. even if true, that’s not really much of an insult to bryce harper
in other words, that’s not a useful way to assess the prospects here. i agree with the sentiment behind the rest of your comments, give or take a few details. this offseason will be very interesting for boston
I think last year Trout ranked first while Harper ranked second on the top prospect list.
Baseball Prospectus has Lee ranked at 47 in the mid-season rankings (about the same area as everyone else – he ranged from 42 to 49), and in his trade analysis Goldstein said that with his recent performance Webster has passed Lee as the Dodger’s #1 prospect, that means that Webster would rank #47 or higher at this point.
Also, Keith Law said in his chat the day after releasing his 2011 midseason top 50, that de la Rosa would have been a top 25 prospect had he been eligible (that would put him in the Walker, Hultzen, Turner, Bradley, Parker range by this year’s preseason rankings, and ahead of Boston’s Matt Barnes by some of this year’s midseason rankings).
some numbers from cots:
red sox payroll obligations pre-trade and post-trade:
2013: $106.9 mil, 2014: $94.4, 2015: $56.0
2013: $45.6 mil, 2014: $34.4, 2015: $12.75
dodgers payroll obligations pre-trade and post-trade
2013: $135.5 mil, 2014: $76.6, 2015: $48.5
2013: $193.75 mil, 2014: $133.6, 2015: $90
It means nothing unless they get BETTER production (than AGon/Crawford/Beckett) from whoever they sign with that money.
i think they’d settle for equal production, but better would be…better
shouldn’t be too challenging. $260M is a lot of scratch and they already have a head start in the form of de la rosa, webster, sands and dejesus
Dude De la rosa is a bullpen arm if I’ve ever seen one. Webster has the upside of a #3. The other two are bad.
I applaud the RS for shedding salary but in terms of a franchise you guys are an embarrassment. Two years ago you guys where surefire WS champs now looking like the marlins. Trading A-Gone was a mistake the only way to replace his production is through FA. Your not going to get a big time player like A-gone with that bargain deal he has. That money you guys saved will most likely go to a Ellsbury, Pedroia, Lester extensions and some random FA(Greinke etc). You then have to fill the A-gone production.. I think this team is in more of a mess than people think. Basically you guys don’t have the talent to replace A-gone, Punto(haha!). Farms not good even after this trade. Maybe if you guys resort to the Rays methods y’all could win!
move Ortiz to 1B ?
then sign a DH…
winning sells…
mets had the highest payroll in 2002…and had bad attendance…mets had the 3rd highest payroll in 2003…and had bad attendance…mets had the 3rd highest payroll in 2009…and had bad attendance…
mets had the 3rd highest payroll in 2010…and had bad attendance…
fans dont come to see “stars” they come to see winners….if they want stars…they can go to the movies…
win = making money.
Dodgers with their huge tv contract. large fan base will have boatloads of cash.
every owner knows winning the WS is a crapshoot come October…at the very minimum they want to make the playoffs. anything less would be failure
Plenty have Webster in front of Lee now.
The dodgers wouldn’t give up Webster for Dempster but they would give him up for the right to pay Beckett and Crawford 130m dollars.
Dempster is overrated.
Because the Dempster trade worked out so well for the Rangers.
Dude, AGon and Crawford are still both All-Star caliber players. Crawford has been hampered by injuries (wrist, elbow) in Boston and probably pressed a bit there, too.
A lot less pressure in L.A. when you hit in front of Ethier, Kemp, AGon and HanRam.
WOW, its just sick to even say that lineup!
Cause Dempster’s just not that good. And way to leave AGon out of the equation.
De La Rosa at 23 years of age has nice potential to do well in their rotation. In a brief stint last year, he won 4 games for the Dodgers. Coupled with an injury this year he hasn’t really pitched much, but the potential is there. The fact that 260M was absorbed by the Dodgers is the true clincher here. It swings the deal in Bostons favor.
Not really, when you consider that the Dodgers gave up a position of major depth (pitching), to fill in major blackholes (1B and back end rotation) and acquired a player who, if he returns to form, would push the Dodgers waaaaay over the top. The Dodgers have major cash now, and are about to get a multi Billion Dollar Television Deal, so 260 M is alright by them.
I don’t understand the “makes sense for both sides” argument.
Boston tried to be at the high roller table but they couldn’t get it done. Good Luck choosing Valentine over all-stars.
He’s gone too. It’s far from over.
Dodgers’ pitching still doesn’t match at all with the Giants. Beckett’s stats are horrible, inconsistent, and he’s clubhouse cancer. Crawford can’t even play till next year. A-Gon is a great talent but Giants have already had years pitching against him in SD so there’s plenty of familiarity. Interesting to see what unfolds.
Beckett’s been unlucky, given all the parks and tough competition he faced the FIP and xFIP under 4.5 is decent, probably a nice middle rotation arm for the dodgers
Stop with this unlucky bs…sick of hearing that excuse for pitchers already. Ive said this before and will say it again FIP is a bad stat to gauge how a pitcher is because Tim Lincecum(according to FIP) is having a better year than CJ Wilson, Matt Harrison and Mat Latos. Also Matt Cain for the past few years has had a really high FIP and has proven that FIP is flawed by constantly pitching better than his FIP.
FIP and xFIP is the best predictor of future success and lack there of for a pitcher, you are using 1 small exception, yes there are probably 3-5 guys that may for whatever reason not fit with the large majority but there is nothing more important to gauge future success. Once Beckett has probably a ERA in the mid to high 3s with the Dodgers everyone will talk about him pitching better with the Dodgers even though he will be pitching similarly and it will be because of easier competition, much easier parks, and he won’t be getting unlucky.
Not really sure how moving from the East to the West or American to the National league changes Beckett’s luck.
You shouldn’t expect one to continue to be unlucky
You shouldn’t expect one to become lucky by moving to the west coast…
I never said I expected him to be lucky in the west coast, lol.
I never said I expect him to be unlucky in the west coast. Facts are facts though, over the past two years hes lost about 3mph on his fastball and about half of that is this year. Look at Lincecum and what a drop in velocity has done, same story with Beckett… Maybe hes not unlucky but just bad?
“Not really sure how moving from the East to the West or American to the National league changes Beckett’s luck. ” This is your comment, you shouldn’t expect him to be unlucky going forward anywhere. Funny how you say facts are facts and write something that isn’t a fact, the fact is Beckett has lost about 1.5 MPH from his fastball and yet has put up solid periphals in a very tough situation (competition and the parks he has had to pitch in) in no way has he been bad this year. Bad is what Barry Zito, Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jiminez, Jeremy Guthrie ect have been.
Beckett ranks 62nd of 103 pitchers in FIP, and 84th of 103 in xFIP (looking at pitchers that have thrown at least 120 IP) this does not take into account the extremely tough parks or extremely tough competition he has had to face. WAR which does adjust for park has him 62nd among these 103 starters, or simply 69th amongst starters. He is just behind the likes of Matt Latos, Mark Buehrle, Mike Leake, Edwin Jackson, and Brandon Morros, right in front of likes of Wandy Rodriguez, Paul Maholm, Bronson Arroyo, and Ian Kennedy do you consider these pitchers bad? He has pitched like a middle rotation starter this year but his numbers (or ERA) has been hurt by 3 major factors, 1 the competion, 2 the parks he has had to pitch in, and 3 being simply unlucky, his periphals are hurt by the first 2 as well.
Whats not a fact? His fastball velocity has been going down since 07 and has dropped 1.5 this year alone. Which is a big reason his K/9 has dropped to his career low. No matter how you look at it his ERA, FIP, xFIP are all high. xFIP actually takes into account the home park. He is “just” behind Mat Latos? Perhaps you should compare the stats of the two and tell me that you would actually consider choosing Beckett over Latos if they are that close. Now lets look at a polar opposite of Beckett. Kuroda went to the Yankees from the Dodgers and he has pretty much the same if not a bit better number than last year. He came to a smaller homerun friendly park and according to you to “better competition.” Seems to me as if your “factors” aren’t as evident as you make them out to be.
FIP says it is fielding independent…but so much is actually dependent on fielding…positioning…the catchers ability to call the game…and throw runners out…it affects pitch count, pitch location and so many other variables
IMO its a BS stat for folks who never pitched beyond high school
Ummm no, it is independent of fielding positioning. BABIP is 99% uncontrollable by the pitcher.
right…because pitch selection ( determined by either catcher or pitching coach ) , a catchers ability to frame a pitch, along with umpire tendencies have nothing to do with walks and strikeouts…2 major components of FIP…
you cant fast-forward the understanding of this game.
Dodgers are obviously well aware that Crawford can’t even play until next year, they have Victorino in LF until then (and Victorino is arguably better).
The Dodgers still have the 3rd best team ERA in the league. With that offense, they don’t need to be 1st in ERA.
Who cares if they Giants have pitched to AGon before? He was good back then, too. And the Dodger’s pitching is better than the Giant’s, and their offenses can’t even be prepared. And this is coming from somebody who couldn’t care less about the Dodgers.
Can you take Lackey tooo? Someone… please..? Once he’s gone, the highest paid player on the Red Sox would be Ortiz, and rightfully so! Our highest paid player as of right now is Lackey! AND HE’S HURT! Once he’s gone, I think we will finally be able to move on, I feel bad for Valentine, he’s trying, I’m not saying I like him, but I can tell he’s getting frustrated with this team and the drama behind them. Once Lackey is gone, the clubhouse will be fresh and ready to play some ball! Sadly, no more playoff runs, but there is a chance! We could be like the A’s! hahah *next year*
I don’t know about “fresh,” given the number of remaining players, but it will cheaper.
lackey is well-liked in the clubhouse and is unlikely to be as terrible as he was on the field with a shredded elbow. his contract is still bad, but that matters less now that payroll isn’t so tight
maybe they’ll pay someone to take him, but i wouldn’t
When he comes back next year the Sox have him at 3yrs/31 million as they get him for an extra year at the major league minimum due to him injuring his elbow. He might very well prove worth it.
No mention of Loney. Whoops.
This is a look at the PROSPECTS heading to the Red Sox.
… and regardless, Loney isn’t worth mentioning.
Like what thegrayrace said, JLoney is a non factor in this trade.
Win now for the Dodgers and win later for the Red Sox
Very true. if they win this year, everyone will forget the player salaries and A-Gon is not even that old. He is an impact bat hitting added to two impact players like Kemp and Hanley that will be there for a number of years.
Good move for the Dodgers!
strong no mention of RDLR’s secondary stuff
unaware
Great trade for both teams. Boston gets salary relief and two good young arms and the Dodgers get three players capable of helping them win now.
Crawford can’t help them win now and there is no reason to believe Beckett can either
I believe Beckett can bounce back in the NL West…
and by win now I mean 1-2-3 years. Crawford is going to be back healthy in 2013.
The two pitchers the Sox got have potential and u know what potential gets you last place in the east for the next 5 yrs.
so basically the dodgers trade a B-level prospect (webster), a 23-year old with a 3.71 ERA and 4.6 BB/9 and projects as a relief pitcher (de la rosa), a 24-year old utility infielder (sands), a 25-year old in triple-A (dejesus), and a defensive-minded first-baseman (loney) for a perennial MVP candidate (gonzalez), one of the best corner outfielders in the game when healthy (crawford), and a guy who had a 2.89 ERA in the AL East just last year (beckett)….
Yup about sums it up.
If Crawford is even 80% of what he was in Tampa, its a very, very good trade for the Dodgers.
My guess is Crawford will come back strong being the catalyst of the Dodger lineup.
And a final note…prospects are always a crapshoot. De La Rosa and Webster could turn out to be cornerstones of the Red Sox rotation for years to come or could flame out and/or get injured.
That’s wishful thinking on your part already.
The Dodgers owe 130MM to A-Gon, but he’s a good player so okay. At the same time, Dodgers also owe 100MM+ to Crawford over the next five years, and that’s an annual average of 20+MM/year. Not to mention even if Crawford played 100% of what he used to play, he is still overpaid! That is not a very good trade for the Dodgers. If other teams have that money, I’m sure most teams could put better use of it.
Assuming large contracts is a value of it’s own (see Hanley Ramirez). To have a 50+ millions freedom to spend on new players, that’s a value. To unload contracts that may handcuff a franchise for 4-5 years, that’s another value. Large contracts lower the value of a player big time. So yeah, the Dodgers gave few assets to get Beckett, Gonzalez, Crawford and Ramirez but they gave Red Sox a lung instead.
Exactly. The primary benefit for the Sox was the salary dump. The prospects they’re getting are icing on the cake.
That Salary dump will be used on Liverpool FC..John Henry’s baby.
Actually, those two pitchers project as #2 pitchers…
It always makes me happy to see bitter Giants fans, but sadly your projections are wildly inaccurate. You clearly cherry-picked De La Rosa’s BB/9 while ignoring his spectacular SO/9 and H/9, and the fact he’s reached as high as 102 MPH on his fastball. The kid is a potential ace.
Webster I’d project as a #3 starter, but some have him as high as a #2. He’s a Top 50 prospect.
Sands has led the Pacific Coast League in a number of offensive categories over the past two seasons. He has an incredible amount of power. He’s not a utility infielder (he’s a 1B/OF). Scouts have concerns about his bat speed against Major League pitching, but his upside is potentially very high.
DeJesus, Jr. is a utility infielder, most likely. He was a throw-in.
Loney is obviously a stop-gap for Boston at 1B for the remainder of the season. Also a throw-in.
You can’t just ignored the 260MM in contract that the Dodgers picked up in this trade. Not to mention they’ve already committed over 192MM next year! A-Gon lost his power (15 HR) this season, JBeckett pitched a 5.23 ERA, and CCrawford is out for the year even when he was healthy he’s didn’t play well for Boston. HRamirez is a head case with a ticking timed bomb and plays inferior defense. If you add up all the trades this season, Dodgers are due to pay 300MM in contracts. That deal don’t look so hot now, huh?
So the Red Sox 2013 Opening Day line-up might look something like this?
Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Middlebrooks, Saltalamacchia, Ross, Sands, Nava, Iglesias
Well if that’s the case the only difference would have been Gonzalez instead of Sands. Crawford won’t be ready for opening day most likely.
Why not Kalish?
I imagine it will be some combination of Nava, Kalish, and perhaps Podsednik, unless they go out and get someone else. For the first half of the year at least.
if the mets were smart…they would absorb all of jason bay’s salary and send him to Boston…i think in that environment, he would return back to the player he was before
Now the Dodgers can just concentrate on signing a SP/RP in the off season.
They’re committed more than 192MM already for the next season, how are they going to have any money left to sign more pitchers in the offseason???
I hate to see A-Gon leave but it was a must to dump Crawful and Beckett of KFC chicken. Craword’s issue was not his elbow but his head, and he should thrive in LA after his surgery recovery. Beckett’s attitude will certainly improve as well with the year round golfing weather while his back is hurting him and he’s not pitching. The Sox can now divert the money into Liverpool where they want the money anyway so John Henry must be ecstatic. I can be happier with a much lower payroll team losing rather than the second highest payroll team losing all the time. This is a real win-win-win deal! The real shocker must be Punto who undoubtedly must have asked “how the %&#@ did my name get thrown into this?”
“Beckett of KFC chicken”? That doesn’t even make sense, but at least see what you tried to do there (and failed). And Crawford’s issue wasn’t his elbow? Yeah, you’re right – he had surgery and then TJ surgery afterward because he wanted to. And as for the rest of your post, I have no idea what you’re even trying to say. I do however, like your last sentence – now that is funny.
yes. liverpool is the real winner in this trade.
Seems to me like this is a clear rebuke of Theo Epstein’s FA acquisitions. I could hear someone in the Sox FO saying, “what about Lackey?, y’know you guys could use an overpaid backend starter” Colletti saying “yeah, we got one in Beckett”
Great, now Boston has freed up some money to get more free agents that won’t perform well.
Here Boston, we’re giving you a get out of jail free card oh and we’ll throw in our 2nd best organizational prospect. Sound good?
I love what the dodgers have done!!!.. I love iy when teams go for the championship. it forces other teams to also make improvementa and also by doing this it helps teams like the Red Sox. This I think is how you are supposed to go for the ring. I also think now the Yankees may have to start thinking about shoring up any holes they may have. In the end G.M.’s know that prospects is a crapshoot and major League talent has to be paid for…
“Dodger pitching isn’t as good as Giants”…. It has been this year – in fact it is better than the Giants. Dodger starters have a better ERA than the Giants and Dodger relievers are much better. Giants hitting isn’t even in the same conversation with Dodgers now!!
“Webster is ranked 95th best prospect in baseball.” Watch now with Boston he just jumped up to # 43! AL East hype up all young talent. Really glad LA didn’t give up Lee or Reed in this trade.
Nobody knows how this trade turns out until we see what the Red Sox do with the money. There’s not much out there on the FA market, so I’m skeptical that they really won out of this. I believe with AGon and Crawford back healthy next year (after the beginning of the season), they were a playoff threat. Depending on who they spend their money on this winter, they could be a threat again, or they could have no shot at seeing October.
dont forgetn we lost casey kelly and anthony rizzo to get agon…
crap prospects. we also lost rizzo and casey kelly to the padres in the adrian deal. this “blockbuster” trade today that sox fans are praising the front office for is horrible for the red sox. ticket prices continue to rise while henry quits spending..and even if they do spend…the contracts for FA’s just get bigger and bigger every offseason..
Did the Padres also offload $130m worth of contracts in two overpaid players when they sent you Gonzalez? Because that does matter…
not to nitpick but Matt Barnes one of the best in the game? He’s an advanced college pitcher who is doing well in A ball at 22 (or 23?) years old. I would think it would be a concern if he wasn’t doing well, and its not like he’s setting the world ablaze, low 3s is good but not great.
Red sox should turn around one of the prospects to Cubs for Soriano
That makes a world of sense.. Boston moves 4 people to clear salary and take on a guy (Soriano) worth even less than Punto?
Sure…..