Roche: Blockbuster Trade Is All About Money
BOSTON (CBS) - Make no mistake about it, this blockbuster is all about money.
I know one of the questions Saturday morning is: what are the Red Sox getting back as far as prospects go?
It doesn't really matter.....today.
I'm sure Webster, Sands, De la Rosa, and DeJesus can all be pretty good players for the Red Sox. Maybe they can be even better than that.
But....it doesn't matter....today.
The Boston Red Sox freed themselves from 260-million dollars in contracts over the coming years. Repeat that. The Boston Red Sox freed themselves of 260-million dollars!
That is what this trade is all about.
It simply wasn't working here. As each day passed this season, the players have gotten angrier and angrier. There was a disconnect with their manager from Day One that has actually gotten better. There was an anger from the fans that the players didn't understand(and still don't). Injuries didn't help and many of the players under-performed.
Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford are all very good players......just not here.....today.
Beckett has been great for this franchise. He was a huge part of the 2007 World Series title and he pitched through a lot of pain. But, he was the face of the beer-and-chicken-September collapse and was never going to be able to overcome it. Crawford just never seemed comfortable in this market and injuries took away any chance for him to live up to his mega deal. Gonzalez is a great player, but not the type that fits Boston fans. He was more of a hitting machine. And, however much he cared......it wasn't enough to live up to his big money contract. Wade Boggs-like.
So now, the Red Sox get a chance to start over. We may now see Lavarnway, Middlebrooks, Bogaerts, Iglesias, Bradley, Kalsih, etc........And, we will see what Ben and Baseball Ops adds/subtracts to what they have here already.
The Red Sox made one of the biggest trades in sports history this weekend. It was stunning to watch it all unfold.
Will the Sox be better now? Too early to tell. But, I give them a lot of credit for realizing they had a major problem and for taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in one fell swoop to change it.
Wow.
