Trade Deadline 2009

This is my first ever in-game blog, and I’ll use a play that happened just moments ago in the Sox-O’s game to explain why the Red Sox acquired Casey Kotchman and Victor Martinez, despite already having an All-Star –laden group of infielders.

Matt Wieters on second, Brian Roberts hits a grounder to the backhand of shortstop Nick Green. Not having the best throwing arm, Green decides against making a Jeter-esque jumping toss to get the speedy Roberts at first base. Instead, he opts to make the quick throw to Mike Lowell covering 3rd base so that he can lay down the tag and get the runner trying to advance on a non-force out. 35-year-old Lowell hobbles to the bag so Green can throw him the ball from maybe thirty away. Green throws it low, but not really to either side of the 3rd baseman, who underwent offseason hip surgery. Low is generally a good place to throw the ball when trying to tag out a runner, but not today. It was painful watching Lowell barely to bend his knees, and attempt to make a shoestring catch without moving a single one of the fragile joints in his body. The ball rolled past Lowell, allowing Weiters to not only advance to third, but to score the tying run as the ball went out-of-play into the Sox dugout. The next batter comes to the plate with a runner on second and one out, instead of a runner on first with two outs. With such a favorable situation, he hits a two-run homer that puts Baltimore up by two runs.

So what did this play tell us? Mike Lowell is far from Gold Glove 3rd baseman he was in ’05. We need someone to man the hot corner and give Lowell a rest a few times a week. Who can we put at third? We have Youk, but he’s an excellent defensive 1st baseman, and only a decent fielder at 3rd. So we look to acquire one via trade who can play good defense, all the while able to create runs at the plate. Since there’s no one available, we’re forced to move Youkilis to 3rd base. Adam LaRoche was our original replacement 1st baseman, but his strength is really on offense, rather than on defense. Since we lost some fielding ability by moving Youk away from 1st base, so LaRoche wasn’t the perfect fit. So Theo went to the Braves to trade LaRoche (5-19, 1 HR, 3 RBI in 6 games with the Red Sox) for defensive-minded Casey Kotchman. So here’s the breakdown again: lose defense at first by moving Youkilis to third, but get more offense at third from Youk than from Lowell; get offense with LaRoche, but Theo sees the need for more defense in the infield; gets Kotchman, despite sacrificing a little at the plate.

What about Victory Martinez? Jason Varitek is undoubtedly feeling the wear and tear of his 12-year catching career. His knees, ankles, and shoulder are as beat up as they can be before landing on the DL. His 78 AB in May have decreased in June, and again in July, where he will probably end up seeing close to 62 AB. With all due respect to George Kottaras, he doesn’t belong in a Red Sox uniform; he’s just not good enough. V-Mart will be able to take some pressure off Varitek and his knees, and Tito won’t hesitate to throw him behind the plate because he’s such an offensive force. Plus, he can also play 1st base or DH, offering Papi and Youk/Kotchman the day off. It’s amazing how much flexibility Terry Francona has, lining up his infield. Lowell, Youkilis, Green, Lowrie, Pedroia, Kotchman, Martinez, and Varitek can all play interchangeably. If one needs a rest, or can’t hit righties, Francona won’t have to think twice about giving him the day off; they can all replace each other without the team missing a beat.

However, what is most intriguing about the Martinez deal is how little the Theo ended up giving Cleveland. We kept Buchholz, Bard, and our main pitching prospects of Michael Bowden and Junichi Tazawa, as well as hitting phenom Ryan Westmoreland. We traded middle reliever Justin Masterson, and 1st round draft picks of the 2007 and 2008 Drafts, LHP Nick Hagadone and RHP Bryan Price.

What’d the Yankees do? Roy Halladay? No. Jarrod Washburn? Guess again. Jerry Hairston Jr. is who the Yanks got today. In his 2009 season with the Reds, he was batting a whopping .254 with 8 HR. Whoop dee doo. He’s more of a utility guy, and the Red Sox need not worry about him at all. It was a good day.