INSANE Red Sox to Dodgers Trade

[EDGECRUSHER]

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/8300112/adrian-gonzalez-carl-crawford-josh-beckett-nearing-boston-red-sox-exit-sources-say

A-Gone, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto for basically a bunch of prospects and James Loney. LA will be picking up 95% of the salary if everything goes down.

Hey Maine.......what the heck is this? I know these guys have been disappointments, but is this really about on the field production or off the field issues?

[Landshark]

And the chances of Bobby Valentine remaining the Red Sox manager next season just went to 50-50.  I'd be willing to bet that Pedroia will be the next to go.

[Spider-Dan]

No way they trade Li'l Dusty... right?

[Landshark]

^^^^^^^^^

He's the one who started the pissing contest by going to senior management to complain about Valentine.

[el diablo]

Why even bother with having a trade deadline? Why don't they just have a fantasy draft after the all-star break?

[EDGECRUSHER]

The Red Sox passed those players through waivers and they were claimed by the Dodgers, so they were allowed to make a trade. From what I see, the Sox are just dumping all of those huge salaries and starting fresh. They found a trade partner who was desperate enough to take on all of those large and/or bad contracts because it would perhaps help them in the short run.

I applaud Boston. It was very bold, outside the box thinking. It won't be seen a lot because very few teams would ever take on the type of salary that LA just did, making it even more impressive.

Now, Boston can start from scratch after their mulligan. I am sure they would've just given Crawford and Beckett away based on their performance and salaries, so whatever they got back in return was just for A-Gone. Seeing as how the Yankees can never get rid of A-Rod and his worst contract ever, I am very jealous.

[Brian Fein]

It was a salary dump, plain and simple.  They saved like 250 million or something by ditching those guys.

[EDGECRUSHER]

It was a salary dump, plain and simple.  They saved like 250 million or something by ditching those guys.

It was a salary dump and perhaps more considering the rumors that A-Gone was bad for the team clubhouse, but they got back actual prospects. It may not be what they traded for A-Gone from San Diego, but usually a salary dump nets you a 26 year old from AA who can't hit. This was impressive, but then again, Ned Coletti is an idiot who is still living off of the players that were drafted and raised for him by the previous GM.

Let's see how they do when Crawford misses 90 games a year and bats .255 while Beckett alternated solid outings with 2 duds.

[Pats2006]

To bad they couldn't have thrown in Dice-K for a box of new baseballs

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

As a Dodger fan I am more than pleased. Loney was the one guy on the team I could not stand and we traded him for A-Gon......Amazing.

[MaineDolFan]

So far, the players aren't making their mark at all.  Make no mistake, this trade was made for today, to make a splash.  This wasn't to build for the the future. 

So far:

Beckett's line as a Dodger:  1-2, 3.86 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched.  His last outing he took the loss in a divisional outing against the Giants.  He is up to a K an inning (18).  His other loss was a hard luck loss (he only gave up one run V Rockies in his debut).

A-Gone, after hitting a home run in his first at bat?  He's MIA.  He is hitting .227 with a pathetic .288 OBP.  If you want to compare that to his line in Boston, he was at .343 / .469.  1 home run, 10 ribs, 66 ABs.  He's running out of time to "get hot" - and the Dodgers really need him to.

Not that you expected much from Punto, but you need the guy to at least hit his average.  He's not:  .143 with .294 OBS. Beckett, out of the three, is the only one pulling his weight thus far...

[EDGECRUSHER]

Ned Coletti is a terrible GM. All of his good players were drafted and developed by the previous GM and now he has financially handicapped his team for years to come. A-Gone will definitely rebound, but he is being paid a very large salary and so is everybody else.

Great move by Boston to be man enough to admit mistakes and move on. Lucky on their part too because there are only 1-2 teams who could've even picked up this kind of salary.