This morning, the Red Sox and Dodgers completed a nine-player blockbuster sending Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto to Los Angeles for James Loney, Allen Webster, Ivan De Jesus, Jerry Sands, and Rubby De La Rosa. For more on the quartet of prospects the Red Sox received, check out Mike Axisa's rundown from earlier today. Here's a look at some of the reaction to today's mega-deal..
- Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) looks at the winners and losers of the deal. The Dodgers of 2012 are unsurprisingly among the winners while the Dodgers of 2017, Olney writes, appear to be losers in the trade. Olney also notes that this is the first time in MLB history in which two players with $100MM remaining on their contracts were involved in a trade.
- The Red Sox will have $260MM to spend, but two best free agents this winter, Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke, don't appear to be fits for Boston, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).
- One rival executive told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter) that he didn't feel that this was the best use of $250MM+ in future spending for the Dodgers.
- Rival executives are wondering why the Dodgers didn't simply tell the Red Sox that they would eat their hefty contracts but would not give up notable prospects, Olney tweets.
- A National League executive opined to Peter Gammons of MLB.com (via Twitter) that "The Dodgers so wanted [Adrian] Gonzalez they took [Carl] Crawford and [Josh] Beckett's money and traded two great arms to get him." Gammons also opines (Twitter link) that between the limited free agent market and caps on international and draft spending, it won't be easy for Boston to reinvest all the money that they have saved.
- The trade talk all started with a call from the Dodgers to Red Sox president Larry Lucchino about Gonzalez, Heyman tweets.
- One overlooked aspect of the trade, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post tweets, is that it could potentially net the Dodgers a more lucrative TV contract.
- Mark Teixeira weighed in on the deal, saying that he didn't sign with Boston in part because they don't offer no-trade clauses, tweets Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
- Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo Sports wonders if the trade will hurt Boston as a potential free agent destination down the line. Money will always speak the loudest in the end, but free agents may look for an even higher premium to sign with the club that just jettisoned much of its core.
- Red Sox players were predictably shocked by the trade, including second baseman Dustin Pedroia, writes John Tomase of the Boston Herald.
So what happens when the Dodgers miss the post season?
I think this trade makes them a better contender in the years to come, not so much this season. They are definitely a better team because of it though. Let’s see if they can improve the chemistry. Time will tell.
dodgers should be pretty great next year
Only if Beckett can regain. Pitching pitching pitching….
I think they have the best offense easy, in the NL West and if Beckett is your #4 starter behin
Kershaw/Bills/Capuano/Harang/Beckett/Lilly (—-pretty dag on good.
In fact, it’s too many guys. Is Lilly expected back in 2013?
I’d expect they’d trade Lilly, but if he couldn’t get moved, Harang would be easier given his lower salary.
or just keep all of em. teams go through about ~7-8 starting pitchers a season, except for the unusually healthy ones.
I’d go as far as saying they’ll have the best offense in the NL. Who else has a 1-5 that can compare to Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier, Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford? And AJ Ellis hasn’t been a slouch, either (.387 OBP).
The pitching is a bit of a concern, as none of those guys are consistent behind Kershaw, but Billingsley and Beckett both have #2 potential, and guys like Capuano, Harang and Lilly are certainly more than capable back of rotation guys. (I personally don’t expect Lilly to ever be healthy again, but who knows.)
Bullpen shouldn’t be a concern. Jansen, Elbert, Belisario and Tolleson are all cost-controlled arms with excellent stuff. Guerra and Guerrier are decent. And there will be free agent options to fill in the remaining spots.
The Dodgers have one of the best team ERAs in baseball this season. They aren’t really struggling in that department.
Dodgers = Yankees of NL West. Except the Dodgers did everything by trade.
And as the Yanks have shown in years past, having a super team is no guarantee for success.
Same as the Phillies
I dont know, given the money they absorbed on each contract it’s kinda like singing them as free agents too.
Would it absolutely blow your mind if I told you that with exception of just two players, ALL 9 position players and all 5 starting pitchers (going by ST starting lineup) were all either acquired via trade or the farm system?
Sabathia and Tex are the only guys acquired via FA and signed to multi-year deals.
Edit: All other FA were all smaller 1 year deals (1/$10 mil and under).
Soriano?
Considering that it’s incorrect, yes it would blow my mind. I’m not sure which lineup you’re looking at, but I’m assuming Martin was probably the starting C. And Kuroda was probably also one of the 5 SPs. I know you conveniently didn’t mention the bullpen, so I won’t talk about Soriano or even Lowe.
And yes, I see your EDIT, but your EDIT proves that you realized you’re wrong.
Pretty much. Only homegrown players the Dodgers have left on the 25-man roster are A.J. Ellis, Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Kenley Jansen, Ronald Belisario, Shawn Tolleson, and Scott Elbert.
Before anyone mentions Andre Ethier, he made his debut with the Dodgers but was acquired from the A’s for Milton Bradley.
Texeira is full of [expletive]. He was going to sign with the Yankees all along – he played the Red Sox like a worn-out drum set first.
So the Dodgers are probably out on Hamilton. The Sox don’t appear to be a fit. The Yankees don’t want to spend that much. The Rangers are still in, but he appears interested in moving on and there have been a few mini word battles between Ryan and Hamilton. Where is he going to end up?
Washington maybe?
Interesting.
Well assuming LaRoche walks and they move Morse to first base they’re going to need another bat. Don’t know how I’d feel about giving him a ton of money personally, but the Nats aren’t afraid to spend so who knows.
I think he has limited options as the most interesting free agent since Albert Belle. I think most teams will be scared off, so I put him somewhere he has already been(Cinci) first.
No. He won’t end up in D.C. It’d be nice, but the Nats aren’t going to let LaRoche walk. He has good years in DC and you want to write him off? The OF is Morse, Werth, and Harper. If they do make a move for another OF and let LaRoche walk, which is unlikely, they’ll most likely deal for Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo. They’d slide Harper to CF, Move Werth to LF and plug Choo in RF.
It’s a mutual option. LaRoche can turn it down and seek a multi-year deal with someone else, and given the year he’s having, I’m sure he’d have several suitors.
He may, but he is happy in DC and with the direction the team is headed. Why do you think he’d leave to go elsewhere
He’s 32. If he stays with the Nationals next year and has another bad year it could potentially ruin his chance of getting that one last multi-year deal.
I’m not saying he WILL leave, I’m just saying there’s a good chance he might.
Money?
Rangers will resign hamilton they got money now
I actually don’t think that they will.
St. Louis.
Ben Cherington basically fixed all of Theo’s mistakes (sans Lackey) in one transaction. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Now he just needs to learn from Theo’s mistakes & stay away from Hamilton & Greinke this winter — use the blue chip prospects they just snagged to try to steal Felix away from Seattle.
pretty sure that those “blue chip” prospects aren’t nearly enough to start a conversation for the unavailable Felix.
You guys got 0 top prospects. You got salary relief.
Top 2 prospect in the Dodgers farm isn’t a top prospect?
Well Rubby wasn’t ranked due to spending most of last year in the majors but was the #2 ranked prospect
dont forget we lost 2 top prospects in the agon deal..casey kelly and anthony rizzo…Henry is laughing at sox fans..tickets get pricier and the sox stop spending..
Felix is ours and you can’t have him
The Red Sox have learned a valuable lesson from this experience of importing high priced talent to create a winner. They will not do it again. Oh, they will reward performance, generously, but it will performance provided by players whom they have groomed in their system or performance, above expectation provided by players who have had their talents and/ or growth stymied by circumstances on other teams. The David Ortiz signing immediately comes to mind as an example of the latter.
Red Sox are going to continue to sign big players. That’s what major market teams do.
Beckett’s deal is not really a MAJOR expenditure, especially for a pitcher of his caliber at that time.
Agonz, had one slightly “off” year and will end up with at least a 10 WAR since signing his contract.
Crawford, wasn’t a BAD signing, but just an overpriced one. If they had signed him to a 7/$105 then it wouldn’t be viewed as bad as it was from the start. He still has 5 years to make it not as bad.
Free agents will not want to come to Boston? doubtful, players will sign for whoever pays them and complain about the atmosphere after they get their money. Hate to say it bit the sox may do better for the remainder of the season. The energy level will be raised playing guys who are fighting for positions versus guys that get paid whether they show or not.
Did anyone else click the link for Will Hurt? There’s actually a player with that name, drafted this year by the Twins!
Haha, I read that sentence and was a little confused at first. Nice catch.
Will Hurt is 11-for-78 with 11 singles. Perhaps a fitting name.
It would be better if his middlle name was “Not” as in WILL NOT HURT baseballs.
Valiant effort, but epic fail.
Hamilton will end up with the Padres where management will be looking to make a splash and fill a big hole in right.
I doubt that. They probably can afford him and his numbers would fall if he played in Petco.
OF for the Padres will be fine if Maybin can find a little more consistency. A full season of Quentin (fingers crossed), Maybin, and Venable/Denorfia could possibly be a +10 WAR OF. The biggest area of improvement will be at 2B, 1B, C, the starting rotation, and the bullpen; most of these improvements will hopefully be solved by the right players getting more playing time/better adjusting to the Majors.
Red Sox probably figured it this way: They only gave money for Crawford, the deal that got Beckett and Lowell long ago paid dividends and now time to move on; they traded prospects for Gonzo and they get prospects in return. Back to square one…
square one is 86 years without a world series….. i dont like square one
You honestly should be glad you’ve gotten 2 in the past 8 years….. Met fans have been waiting 26 years and counting -_-.
Cubs fans- 104 years and counting…
Yea I feel worse for ya’ll too lol
I love the trade for the Los Dojers, but it seems to be a clear damnation of Bobby Valentine, rather than a smart move for the BOS. Bobby V was handed a contender and managed to cultivate resentment and distrust in the locker room from day one. I don’t doubt that Beckett’s performance is more related to his evironment rather than talent or lack thereof. On the otherhand, Robin Ventura was handed a group of underperformers heading into 2012, and has managed to get the most out of that crew, despite losing his best returning pitcher.
For a large market team, like BOS, success is about signing elite players when they’re available and frankly those players aren’t available often. There isn’t another A-Gon on the market next season.
Bobby V was handed a contender that finished 2011 with a 7 – 20 September under Terry Franconia. Their problems just carried over into 2012.
Dont forget about that ugly April too when they started the year off with 6 consecutive losses.
Bobby V wasn’t handed a pitching staff. A few very good/great starters but no bullpen, no starting pitching depth. Pitching is always the name of the game
Lester/Beckett/Lackey/Buccholz wasn’t a good staff on paper? Lester and Beckett were no less than studs last year. Just because they failed to produce this year doesn’t mean they weren’t worthy of manning the head of this years’ rotation.
I agree with you, it was good starter thus I wrote “A few very good/great starters but no bullpen”. Lester, Beckett, Buckholtz is awesome 1-3. They don’t have a bullpen or depth (Lackey out for year, Dice-K for half year).
Managers don’t play the game.
I still don’t see why people are hating on Booby V. Nothing he has done has been that bad. The Sox just had too many primadonnas
Nothing Bobby V has said or done has been that bad. He was just handed too man primadonnas
So I guess the Yahoo story about a heated clubhouse meeting meant nothing? Quote:
“Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were among the most vocal in the meeting, in
which some players stated flatly they no longer wanted to play for
Valentine, the sources said.”
Google the article….its pretty damning.
So here is my thoughts on Red Sox off season plans.
1 – A stud pitcher. I know we just got RDLR and AW but doubront looked great and started to fade and we dont know where lester and Buch looked good but possibly is fading some as well. We need to get someone to pair with Lester to balance it out. Especially since with RDLR, AW and Doubront we are looking for someone to give us 200+ innings. Lackey comes back but not sure if he returns to 3/4 form or he just fades away. My opinion offer an OF prospect plus the full contract amount for Tim Lincecum. He is going to make 22.25 next year and with the signing of Cain, Bumgardner and the albatross that is Zito, they are going to have to move someone. Coming off a poor(er) season he will be the odd man out. Obviously this is a heavy one year deal, but if he pays off then its worth it and if not he walks after the one year and you arent saddled with the guy. I live in NY and the biggest difference before the trade happened, was every 5 days (before his DL stint) they would roll out CC Sabathia and it was almost guaranteed a quality start.
2 – Re – Sign Cody Ross to play LF for maybe 3/29
3 – Offer Big Papi arb and see again where he stands. I think he will at least net you one draft pick or would be another great addition for around 14 million.
4 – The final piece we need to address is 1B. Two options: 1 you offer literally a bag of balls and some contract relief for Michael Young ( and i mean maybe 4 million) OR 2: trade for a possible replacement. I like Allen Craig but it would probably be a load to get him so how about Justin Morneau?
The important to thing to remember is Justin Morneau, Michael Young and Tim Lincecum are all basically one year deals. We would definately be under the luxury tax (regardless if we sign anyone) but the next year we would be available for free agents for 2014 season. The 3 players mentioned basically will be a season long evaluation the worst thing is we realize they cant make it in boston and the best scenario is we find bonafide players to go forward with.
I think the last thing the Sox will do, or should do, this off-season is become spenders again. Throwing money around is what caused the problem this trade is supposed to solve. They’ll be far better off trying to develop internally and thinking long-term rather than jumping on the best of who is available in what is, as your post makes quite clear, a pretty lean year.
hence the point of signing one year fix players. Morneau, Lincecum and Young are FA after the 2013 season. They will use internal options but at 1B and possibly SS they dont have options. We shall see in the next month if Iglesias can do more then be a steady glove. If not they need to go out and find someone to fit a AL East starting position. Big spenders and spending to be a relevant team is 2 different attitudes. They arent going to resign Loney, they traded away Lars Anderson (who i wasnt a fan of) and the Mauro Gomez is only a journeyman. If Young is not a fit at SS they will either go with Ciricao which is a stretch, Iglesias whom will be a problem if he is a great glove and range but hits 215/260/271 then he becomes a hole in the lineup and Aviles has been pretty rough to watch this season. One of the other options which is tough to imagine, Elvis Andrus but I think the rangers have bigger plans for him in a trade to get Upton.
The thing is that those are really, really expensive stop-gap players and I doubt that ownership is going to open their wallets up for them unless the Twins, Giants, et cetera are going to take on most of the salary. Maybe that would happen with Morneau but I doubt it with Lincecum. Anyway, they’re not going to play to contend next year. I think they’ll likely look at what the Blue Jays are doing and try to get some cheap players to hold down the fort until the development works itself out, and in the meantime try to get some young, controllable players who will fill in while the replenished farm system does its work. I don’t think what you’re suggesting is a bad idea in principle; I just think it is an awful lot of money to spend on a year in which there’s very little chance of being competitive. Some Red Sox fans will be howling but this trade was made in the interest of making the finances more efficient and paying for one-season loaners isn’t the best way of going about that, in my opinion at least. But I’m not a GM, so who knows.
You seem to not understand this is not the Blue Jays. The fanbase for the Boston Red Sox does not hope or anticipate them rebuilding which is why Cherington and Lucc are both using the term “reset”. They usually have a payroll that hoves around 155+ million per year. When they ad these “expensive” one year deals to their roster. It is because the fanbase and the ownership expects them to have a highly competitive team. The term controllable to the Boston Red Sox is more about having manageable players then cost controlled. Once again Morneau, Young, and Lincecum will all provide controllable players with past experience in post season and pennant races. It could possible provide draft picks which will then allow the team to further reload the next year. An awful lot of money to you and to a team that is almost a 100 million dollars under the normal payroll are two different things.
I understand quite well that it is not the Blue Jays, and I know the Red Sox fan base won’t like it. As a Red Sox fan myself, I communicate with a good number of them. What I think Cherington realizes—what I hope he realizes—is that expecting a highly competitive team without developing it internally is a dangerous game to play and precisely what got them into these huge, long-term contracts to begin with. They are moves of desperation. Internal development takes a bit of time. The Red Sox were smart in acquiring pieces from the Dodgers who are not far off, to complement the crop of young talent they have in Pawtucket. They won’t field a contender next year. It’s going to be hard for some fans to take, but if Cherington wants to build a sustainable model for this team, following the examples of more progressive GMs like Anthopolous and Friedman, one that contend year after year without having to throw around long-term, nine-figure contracts, the last thing he wants to do is throw money around at guys who are filling in holes for a year, which is what Lincecum, for example, would be doing.
Believe me. I know that some fans will be rabid. Jays fans sure are; every week in the Toronto Star some idiot writes in and calls for Anthopolous’s head and for the team to reinstate Cito Gaston as manager, trying to say that AA’s method has already failed. And Toronto fans aren’t even as hyped up as Red Sox fans. But you also have to understand that the ownership group is probably going to be monitoring their wallets a bit more carefully from this point forward. Assuming big salaries for a year of control of veteran players like Morneau, or even young players like Lincecum who are having a down year, isn’t the way to go about things.
You’re right about Craig. At the time, he posseses the most trade value of any player the Cards have.
Lincecum would be a terrilbe waste of money. His velocity on his fastball has dropped dramatically and he is throwing way too many sliders which is not a great pitch for him. The loss in velocity in his fastball makes his changeup not as effective and I just think that his pitching motion has caught up to him. He doesnt seem to be able to throw as hard anymore. Trading any type of prospects for him would be a horrible idea. Not sure if you have seen michael young this year but he is clearly aging and has become rather ineffective. Morneau is the only guy I wouldnt mind taking a chance on. The other two would be horrible and i have no idea why you would even want the sox to take chances on them. I would rather rebuild from within and sign a few stop gaps if thats what has to be done.
As a Dodger fan, it’s kind of a shock to the system for a trade like this to actually come to fruition. I’ve been so conditioned by McCourt’s lack of spending that I’m not sure how to handle all of these moves the Dodgers have made over the past few weeks.
You know the Dodgers have had over $100M payroll the past 6 years? No other team in the division is close to that except Giants the past 2. Even after cut-backs, the Dodgers were spending money..
Depends on whether you are comparing opening day or the end of the season. The Dodgers have not opened all of the last six seasons with payrolls over $100m, including this one, and several of those years just bearly. The other factoid is that the Dodger payroll has been declining during that time period and the Giants have been growing theirs. The Dodgers are also in the largest media market in the NLW but have been spending like a mid-market team.
Spending over $100M is not mid-market at all. Denver, Ariz payrolls are mid-market. And if they didn’t start at $100M, that means they are taking on salary throughout the year. The Yankees payroll is declining too but still WELL OVER everyone else in the division year after year. Point is, McCourt never went Jeffrey Loria on the team even when lowering payroll — he took on extra salary in-season. I blame Colletti
Ahh, so you think Colletti was given a bigger budget but didn’t want to spent it for some reason? Now we get into the wild world of revisionism! The Dodgers have been in the middle third of payroll spending for the last few years and have slipped steadily down the list closer to the middle. Considering the actual size of the market, that is low. And I’m not going give McCourt credit for not going the full slash and burn route and I don’t know a single other Dodger fan who would.
Good thing I’m not a Dodger fan haa. No no, my point was Colletti / Dodgers have had a much larger budget since he took over in 2006 than anyone else in the division. But as we know money isn’t always the answer. Even with budget-reductions, Colletti has still had more $$$ than lots of teams; he has drafted horrible sans 1 player in Kershaw. I think he is an awful GM and you cannot blame some of his moves on payroll reduction when it is still that high on a consistent basis.
So Kemp was another terrible draft choice. Revisionism here we come. Yes we know that money is not always the answer but also that a lack of it is never the answer. The farm system was strangled under the last two ownerships and that was not the GM’s fault, but we see it being repaired now. And yes we also realize that the Dodgers are about to become as hated as the Yankees. Given a choice I’d prefer hated to pitied. Had enough pity to last a lifetime so spare me.
FYI he didn’t draft Kemp; Kemp was drafted in 2003 even before DePodesta was hired… Colletti’s drafts have been awful. The only guy he drafted in 7 years (yes 7 years!) who is contributing is Kershaw. Kemp, Billingsley, Loney, Jansen, Guerra were all drafted before Colletti started, which means ownership/GMs/scouting directors before him were doing a hell of a job. I’ll give you Ethier if you want, but that was a minor-league trade as Ethier was drafted by the A’s. Sorry to ruin your “revisionist” argument. Those are pure facts not opinions or pity or hate.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think the Red Sox are necessarily going to be large spenders for a couple of years. Greinke and Hamilton aren’t exactly great fits, and ownership might want to keep payroll in the 120-140m range to generate larger profits, and hope younger cheaper players come through.
Henry saves millions while ticket prices continue to go up. sox fans dont know how screwed they just got.
hey! leave will hurt out of this :/
This is a statement from the Red Sox… No more 6-7 year deals, no more long term deals for SP in late 20’s early 30’s. we will see 1-3 year deals for a long time to come. they could have kept Beltre and Youkilis AND the prospects and had the SAME run production, SAME defense with MORE flexibility. Now they have flexibility to sign producers like CRoss every year and not wait for guys like JD Drew. This team still has talent… What they need more than anything is consistent pitching coach and a leader in the clubhouse. Would absolutely love to see this team go on a tear and sneak into the playoffs… Go Sox!
”Would absolutely love to see this team go on a tear and sneak into the playoffs.”
You are joking, right?
Hes being very positive lol
Obviously not likely, but nothing wrong with wanting to see that.
Look at what happened with the Mariners after they traded Ichiro. Sometimes addition by subtraction IS the answer
Could someone explain to me exactly why Josh Hamilton wouldn’t be a good “fit” for Boston?
Hamilton was already suspended for 3 years for drug & alcohol abuse while with Tampa. He only began to pull himself together when Cincinnati gave him a chance. I think it would be risky for any big market team to give him a big contract. He would be better off staying in Texas or in a smaller media market where there is much less pressure.
He would be a great fit anywhere.
Bad memories for him of Tampa Bay and having to play there many more times per year would be tough for him since all of those drug-related temptations and tattoo parlors are still there. In Texas, they only play in Tampa Bay a couple times per year.
Trade reactions:
As a die hard Sox fan I am not happy with this trade. Lucchino wouldnt know baseball if he took a fastball to the head. Why would they trade Youk if they had any thoughts of trading Gonzalez? Dosent make sense also Crawford never played 100% in Boston and we all know he is a top 5 outfielder in MLB when healthy. Shame on Sox front office and I hope this wasnt Cherington trying to flex his I dont need Theo help by unloading all of Theo’s pickups! Why dont we just ship out Pedroia next…
they could ship out Pedroia, the others were mostly gone because they had large contracts AND spoke up against Valentine. The owners side is clear, you are with Valentine or out
If only we could cut Lackey the Sox would be rid of all of Theo’s moronic, ill concieved, and amazingly bloated contracts after this year. Let’s get more players who actually put their heart and soul into playing like Millar, Lowell, Varitek, etc. instead of just going after the guy who is going to command the most money.
The Sox got rid of Youk because they were tired of the constant friction he seemed to cause. Good riddance. If Pedroia opens his mouth, I would see what he would bring on the open market over the winter. It’s time for guys to stop acting like they are bigger than the team. For crying out loud, all they have to do is look at how they do things down the road in Foxborough.
Let us not forget that Kevin missed 1/3rd of 2011 with debilitating hip injuries. He was in and out of the lineup in 2012 and, when he played 3B, he played very conservatively, showing limited mobility. He also wasn’t able to hit his weight (220lb.), with any power to speak of, either. While, all this time, drawing a $12,500,000 in paychecks for a lackluster performance.
Meanwhile, a young guy, capable of putting up Youk’s numbers of 4 years ago, while being paid the MLB minimum, is biting at the bit in Pawtucket.
What is team management supposed to do? Ignore the obvious?
Youk at 33 is about done, career wise. He has been benched for injuries at least twice since going to Chicago….Plus, he triggered all this bad mouthing the manager stuff we have been reading about….. He gave the fans 3-4 years of top flight baseball but lets not forget he was paid handsomely for his efforts too. Hasta luego, Youk.
I’m sure trading Adrian Gonzalez wasn’t the selling point for Boston. Being able to get rid of both Beckett and the distractions that came along with him and Crawford’s contracts while still being able to receive righties with a nice potential, was probably what made them do this trade. Will it set them back the rest of this year and maybe next? Yes. But it also gives Cherington a lot of breathing room and space to do what he has to do build a winning team. I’m a red sox fan and I love this trade.
A-Gon said afterward that signing with Boston was a mistake, and he obviously wants to play in California. Youkilis also wanted to leave it seems, as evident by his lack of success in the latter days he was a Red Sox. Beckett needed to go. I thought this was a great deal by Cherington.
I know just the spot for Pedroia, Aviles and, perhaps Aceves….
St Louis,…… for Allen Craig
I hate the dodgers and the lakers buying championships because they have the big bucks. Time to break out the voodoo dolls.
Tell me about it -_- (magic fan)
I would rather see the Sox trade for JUpton than sign Hamilton, too many variables with Hamilton. I say make that trade, sign Swisher for first and take the risk on Greinke. Also resign Ross
No more foolish risks. Signing Hamilton and Greinke would be a lot of money and tie us in the same problem we just got ourselves out with.
I’d like to ‘opine’ about “opine.” Never seen a site over use a word so much…
I want to thank the Dodgers for throwing away their financial flexibility on a bad deal.
Has the front office shared with you what their spending limit is?
LOL, yeah, dumb to acquire 2 All-Star infielders who filled gaping holes for the Dodgers. Because, clearly, HanRam and AGon are way past their prime.
Also, dumb to get a LF who just 2 years ago was one of the most coveted free agents and whose productivity last year and this year was hampered, in part, by injuries and probably pressing too much.
If Crawford comes back healthy next year, the Dodgers’ lineup will be sick! Likely the best lineup in the NL.
if this gives the Dodgers the lead in the West it could push the team with the best pitching staff , the Giants into a 1 game playoff or out of the playoffs entirely. The Reds, Pirates, Braves, Nationals will thank them for that
All I can say is this. The Dodgers must have also acquired Marty McFly and Doc Brown and spent the rest of their money on building the DeLorean time machine to take them back to the year 2009, where all of Hanley, Victorino, AGonz, Crawford, Beckett, Joe Blanton, and even Juan Uribe, Ted Lilly, and Adam Kennedy had their career years.
Kidding aside though, I legitimately believe Ned Colleti’s player valuation analysis must have some kind of mistaken bias toward the year 2009. Look at all of these players’ numbers closely that year, and you’ll see the trend too.