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.