Red Sox fans rejoice as team makes monster trade with Los Angles

Squawker Jon and I were at dinner Friday night when I got the following alert from the Boston Herald on my iPhone "Red Sox working on trading Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to LA Dodgers." I couldn't believe it -- I was thinking for a second that the Herald got hacked or something! What a jaw-dropper!

That's the type of trade idea you hear on late-night sports radio, as Lori Rubinson of WFAN noted on her show Saturday night. Thursday morning, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times wrote an article suggesting such a trade, and by Saturday, the deal was done!

Anyhow, as you can see in the above photo, those Red Sox were happy to get out of Boston, but Boston fans were even happier to see them gone. Especially Beckett (although I heard that the Popeye's near Fenway was mourning his absence). And you know who else has to be happy that Beckett's in Los Angeles? Roscoe's Fried Chicken and Waffles! (No, I never get tired of the fried chicken and beer jokes!)

I've heard a variety of Red Sox fans say that they felt like they got their team back. (Who knew that Nick Punto was History's Greatest Monster!) I've said this myself in Subway Squawkers that this Sox team needed to start cleaning house with the team in order to move forward. When you have people like A-Gon who writes a text message to ownership whining about his manager, then throws the recently-traded Kelly Shoppach under the bus for it, you have a pretty toxic environment. Not to mention what a jerk Beckett is. I do think Carl Crawford got a raw deal in his time in Boston, though, but now he gets a fresh state in LA.

It looks like the inmates may no longer be running the Sox asylum -- Alfredo Aceves threw a fit Friday and got suspended by the team for it. When was the last time you heard something like that happen?

Anyhow, Boston is out of it for this year, but I think they will be contenders again soon. It's not just that they dumped literally 200+ million in payroll, but they got rid of a huge jerk, and an up-and-coming one.

But I do have to wonder that if the Yankees tried to make such a trade, would people complain that it was unfair or something? You know how it is when it comes to the Yanks!

Red Sox show Mets that big contracts can work

I'm on board with Sandy Alderson's strategy for rebuilding the Mets and I understand the need to get out from under the bad contracts of the previous regime. But when the Red Sox leave the Winter Meetings with Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez while the Mets take home Ronny Paulino and D.J. Carrasco, it feels like Charlie Brown on Halloween getting only a rock. Tightening the belts in for 2011 will be worth it - as long as they can be loosened again in 2012.



It's not a problem for a well-run big-market team to have some bad contracts. Look at what the Red Sox paid the following players in 2010:

John Lackey: $18 million
J.D. Drew: $14M
Mike Lowell: $12M
Daisuke Matsuzaka: $8M

That adds up to $54 million for players worth a lot less than that. And only one of these players (Lowell) came off the payroll after 2010 - Drew is signed through 2011, Matsuzaka through 2012 and Lackey through 2014.

But the Red Sox also have plenty of top players who are comparatively underpaid. Here are some other 2010 Red Sox salaries:

Jon Lester: $3.75M
Dustin Pedroia: $3.5M
Clay Buchholz: $443,000

And the overpaid Red Sox players at least provided some production. Lackey won 14 games while Dice-K won nine. Drew hit 22 homers. Lowell filled in at first after Kevin Youkilis got hurt and ended up starting 38 games there.

Compare that to the Mets' bad contracts for 2011. Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo do not belong on a major-league roster. Johan Santana will be lucky to make it back by the All-Star break, and even then is unlikely to be in ace form. Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay are big question marks. Francisco Rodriguez has significant off-the-field issues and is coming off an season-ending injury to his pitching hand.

These six players are owed an astonishing $86.5 million for 2011:

Johan Santana: $22.5M
Carlos Beltran: $18.5M
Francisco Rodriguez: $11.5M
Jason Bay: $16M
Oliver Perez: $12M
Luis Castillo: $6M

Even the Red Sox would find these numbers hard to write off.

I continue to defend the Beltran, Santana and Rodriguez moves. All three have performed at a high level when healthy. None was considered an injury risk when signed, and nobody foresaw K-Rod's off-the-field issues. Signing any starting pitcher to a longterm deal is a risk, as whomever signs Cliff Lee will find out.

If this list consisted of only those three players, it would add up to $52.5M, slightly less than the $54M on the earlier Red Sox list. And the Mets would still have an extra $34M to play with.

The problem, as always, comes down to the zero value of Perez and Castillo. And at this point, the Bay signing doesn't look too good, either. Even if Bay makes a great comeback, he has a long way to go to be worth $16M next year.

Last year, the Mets needed a righthanded power-hitting outfielder. Bay was available and would cost almost half of much as the other top OF available, Matt Holliday. I liked the Bay signing at the time.

But in hindsight, the Mets would have been better off spending more to get Holliday or passing on both of them. Holliday will likely end up justifying his contract much more than Bay will because Holliday actually is a great player, while Bay is, at best, a very good one.

The Mets needed a starting pitcher when Perez was a free agent, and you know the rest.

But just because the Mets ended up with some very expensive rocks doesn't mean they should avoid all big-name free agents. As the Red Sox have shown, it's possible to incorporate big-money acquisitions into an overall strategy that leaves your team with a lot more treats than tricks.

My thoughts on Carl Crawford's contract, Cliff Lee's demands, and Tom Brady's Uggs ad

I'm peeved. It looks like Carl Crawford is no longer an option for the Yankees, now that Boston is signing him. I'm a little taken aback at how much money the Red Sox are willing to give Crawford; he's a very good player, but is he worth seven years and $142 million? I dunno.

The Sox have reloaded with Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez (BTW, love that "we're going to pretend he hasn't signed a contract extension until Opening Day, so we can save on luxury tax." Only Boston could get away with that scheme!) Now this means the Yanks are going to have to overpay even more for Cliff Lee, and even then, I'm not sure they will get him.

An aside -- I went to the Boston Globe's site this morning to read the Crawford news and saw a big article about how Tom Brady is now doing Uggs ads. Yeah, I'm sure men will be buying those boots in droves!

But I digress. Anyhow, I wrote at the end of the season that I didn't think the Yankees getting Cliff Lee was a sure thing. When all is said and done, could I see Lee staying with the Rangers? Absolutely. Nolan Ryan asked Lee's agent to tell him what it would take for him to stay in Texas. If they match the Yankees' offer, Lee will still end up with more money, thanks to Texas' lower cost of living and lack of state income tax.

Gee, I'm glad that the Yankees front office had to spend the last month wrangling with re-signing Derek Jeter, instead of getting to spend more time to do things to, you know, actually improve the team. Thanks, dude, for being all about the pinstripes!


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