Christmas in August

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard some news about the huge Red Sox-Dodgers blockbuster trade. But you can now hear it from one more source. A deal was finalized yesterday sending Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Punto, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for first baseman James Loney and four top prospects. First of all, number one LA pitching minor leaguer, Allen Webster, joins the Boston minor league club, as does Ivan De Jesus. Finally, Rubby de la Rosa and Jerry Sands will join Boston as the two players to complete the nine-player deal. But more important than the players is the new mindset Ben Cherington is showing. He let go of one of the top hitters of Boston, A-Gone and a former ace in Beckett. And what does Boston get in return, aside from the prospects? Well, this part truly makes it for me. The Dodgers will pay all but about $12 million of the $260 million remaining on those four players' contracts. All of a sudden, the Red Sox organization has a ton of free money.

Getting rid of these four players, who incidentally have generally been underperforming this season, is a brilliant move, in my opinion, by Ben Cherington. I mean, Punto has a .200 average, Crawford hasn't played much, and Beckett is 6-11! I guess Gonzalez has been pretty good, with a .300 average and 80 RBI, but that's not up to what he can do. And now all of a sudden the Red Sox have more money. The only possible problem I can see with this trade is that Cherington is going to have to use his money wisely. I really hope the Sox don't blow it on deals like those they made to Crawford and A-Gone. Hopefully they will invest in some good players for non-binding deals. I mean, they expected Crawford to be healthy, and Gonzalez to perform amazingly. That didn't happen. However, Boston does currently have a host of young players-- Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Pedro Ciriaco-- who can form a backbone.

Speaking of which, today the Sox beat the Royals, 8-6, led by Ciraco's three hits. In the seventh inning, Ciriaco bounced a go-ahead infield single, just beating the throw. He is just a marvelous player for Boston and runs hard no matter what. As Dave O'Brien of WEEI Red Sox radio put it, "He just doesn't stop running." Ciriaco is batting .360 so far this year, and hopefully he can be solid in the future for Boston. Meanwhile, Pedroia homered, and hopefully this can be the starting point of the new Red Sox.

Worth Noting
Gonzalez drilled a home run in his first game with LA.

Sox Season Slipping

I must say, after the All-Star Break, when Boston swept Toronto, I thought they could keep rolling. They couldn't. Since being .500 at the midseason point, they have solidly remained around .500 during the second half. And they just barely avoided a sweep from the Baltimore Orioles this week, only being saved by the wonderful Clay Buchholz, who has undoubtedly been Boston's second-half ace, if not the ace for the whole season. In a season where the previous 1-2 punch for the BoSox, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, have each put up ERA's around 5.20, Buchholz has shined as a light in the darkness. Yes, his ERA is a relatively high 4.19. But honestly, that's because his first three starts were truly awful. Since then, he has been amazing for Boston and a much-needed stopper. Since July 19th, Buchholz is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA. I mean, that is just amazing for a team that has played under .500 ball! Actually, that reminds me of Felix Hernandez, who Wednesday fired the 23rd perfect game in major league history for the last-place Mariners.

In fact, last night Buchholz became the 47th person to perform another pitching achievement: the perfect inning. Clay threw nine pitches and struck out the side in the sixth inning for his immaculate frame. This is yet another reason that I pick Buchholz as the bright light of the pitchers to shine in this -- so far-- dark year for Boston. As Bostonherald.com puts it, "Clay Buchholz is the Red Sox' only sure thing." There have been, granted, a couple other bright spots. For instance, thank goodness for Pedro Ciriaco, who has stole seven bases and batted .327 after being called up late this season. And Adrian Gonzalez has finally been doing his job, as after a slow start he has leaped out to bat .308 and tie for fifth in the AL with 82 runs driven in. Also, Carl Crawford has been hitting .288 with four steals since coming off the DL, and I am very happy that he is producing. Scott Podsednik has batted .384 in limited duty for Boston. And finally, Matt Albers, Scott Atchison, and Junichi Tazawa have all been solid out of the bullpen, each posting ERAs under 2.30.

But for all these bright spots, there are some pretty bad players. Though Jarrod Saltalamacchia has 20 home runs, he is batting just .229 this season as the regular catcher. Alfredo Aceves, though he has saved 24 games, has blown six saves and lost seven games. That's not what I want from my closer. In contrast, Jonathan Papelbon last year saved 31 games, blew three saves, and lost a single game. It's really too bad that the Sox failed to re-sign Pap, as he could have been a good closer for Boston. And it also is not just the individual players doing badly, it is the team as a whole not playing well. Those are really the worst stats for Boston, summed up here in this article. The worst and the best. But the team just needs to start playing flat-out better baseball if they want a chance at the playoffs. That said, I sincerely hope they do. Good luck Boston!