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This Sunday, the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers will face off in prime time, exactly one year to the day of arguably the biggest waiver deal in baseball history.
Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto will all face their former team this weekend (Josh Beckett is currently on the DL). Meanwhile, none of the players the Red Sox acquired in the trade will play against the Dodgers.
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Allen Webster and Rubby De La Rosa are currently at triple-A for the Red Sox, and those are the only two players acquired in that trade who are still members of the Boston organization. James Loney is starting at first base for the team chasing the Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays.
Then there is Ivan DeJesus Jr. and Jerry Sands, both at triple-A for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They, along with Mark Melancon, were sent to the Pirates for Joel Hanrahan (out for the year) and Brock Holt, currently a teammate of Webster and De La Rosa at Pawtucket.
So, the Red Sox dealt four players to a team that is currently two games shy of the most wins in baseball for two guys in the minor leagues, two players that are currently in the minors for a different organization, and a starter… on the team currently standing as the biggest threat to the division.
Yeah, Red Sox fans won’t be celebrating the anniversary of this trade on Sunday.
Although, the glass is certainly half full in Boston. The Red Sox are still leading the AL East and the Providence Journal did the math, showing that the team will have over $40 million to work with this coming offseason and still remain under the competitive balance tax threshold.
So, the Red Sox are in a good position for the rest of this year and in a position to be the top bidders for the premier free agents this coming offseason.
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