Official Report: Trade Completed This Morning

Welcome to the show Ben Cherrington, you just made Red Sox history. Earlier this morning Cherrington shipped Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Punto to the LA Dodgers for utility infielder Ivan DeJesus, OF/1B Jerry Sands, RHP's Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, and first baseman James Loney. Somehow Cherrington also mastered the Jedi trick of mind control and got the Dodgers to cover most of the $270 million price tag associated the package LA received. While we didn’t get much, what we did do was unload expensive yet replaceable players and free ourselves up to shop around this winter to fill in the holes.

            Losing all that star power is a big hit, but the biggest lost will be felt at first base. Gonzalez, despite his personality, is a fantastic player. He is well above average defensively, and a threat at the plate—especially in high-pressure spots Many claim that he is passionless and never comes through; I ask them to look at his .338 average with men on base and .398 average when there runners in scoring position. No matter what you say, it is evident that Gonzo is an RBI machine and his bat will be missed in the lineup.

            My question is this: what will happen next year? While the trade eliminated the star power from the Sox in one swoop, it also eliminated a sense of entitlement that pervaded the Sox clubhouse since 2007. Gone are the days when the Sox will pay for past performance, say hello to the future where if you underperform, as Donald Trump would say, you’re fired. Another interesting note, pretty much everyone who had a problem with Bobby Valentine is now gone (with the exception of Pedroia). Beckett and Crawford had issues from the start because of Valentines’ comments on their playing style. Kelly Shoppach (traded to the Mets earlier) had issues with the playing time he got. Lastly, Gonzalez was named as a ringleader in orchestrating the mass text to the owners complaining about Bobby V. It’s like the scene at the end of The Godfather, except instead of shooting all his enemies Bobby Valentine had them shipped out.

            The direct consequence of this is that next year’s team will be much younger than the team we have now. From that youth and inexperience comes a better work ethic and lack of entitlement that poisoned the Sox from 2007 onward. The infield will probably have Middlebrooks at third, Ciriaco/Iglesias at short, Pedroia at second, Lavarnway/Salty/Other at first, and Lavarnway/Salty catching. The outfield may have Nava in left, Ellsbury in center, and Kalish in right. The pitching staff is where things will get interesting, and where I believe the Sox will spend the $200 million or so they have freed up from all those big contracts. The definite starters are Lester, Buchholz, and Lackey. After then it will be determined by who earns the spot in spring training. The bullpen will get a tune up too, I expect to see Bard, Aceves, and Bailey back but after that there are a few spots up for grabs.

            The Red Sox organization needed a kick in the butt, after what Ben Cherrington did this morning I think they are well on their way on the right track (and hopefully a World Series title soon).