I've been reaching for the stars lately, and it's been working (inside joke for those of you who follow my threads in other forums).

What's the local/national media saying about this trade? Does anyone in that group NOT think it's the biggest swindle pulled on Yawkey Way since The Town?

Espn showed Ben Cheringtons Press Conference and the ESPN guy made some comment about Cherington holding back a grin when talking about the trade.

My Lakerfan/Dodgerfan friends on Facebook are loving. Thanks guys!

Im soo happy with this trade. If those 2 pitching prospects reach their ceiling trade just gets soo much better.

Also see reports that Red Sox told Ross they want him back next year although no extension talks have taken place. Im good with that. He's got a great swing for Fenway and seems like hes a good character guy for the clubhouse.

The only thing I'm disappointed in is they somehow couldn't convince LA to take Bobby V as well. Alas, still satisfied.

Is it to greedy to hope for someone to take on some of lackeys contract to get that bum outta here.

Getting rid of Punto might be worth almost as many wins.

I still don't understand what was wrong with Adrian Gonzalez.

Imo it was more they wanted to get rid of Crawfords bad contract and ship away Beckett. Gonzalez was the player needed to make it happen ( and punto obviously). If your planning on rebuilding it also doesnt hurt to get rid of Gonzalez's $120m+ contract.

Gonzo is who the Dodgers coveted for his abililty and his heritage that will sell a lot of tickets in socal. To get him, they had to swallow hard and take Beckett and Crawford. Beckett only has two years remaining and if he keeps to his odd even past will have a good year next year and I'm supposing they feel Crawfords a good player that was injured and will be good again once healthy.

We now have a bunch of pitching prospects from this deal and others made this year that hopefully one or two will pan out.

It seems that Gonzalez's rapidly deteriorating relationship with the Boston media along with his alleged clubhouse lawyering around the Fire Valentine Text Messaging Debacle could have caused the Boston management to believe that Gonzalez was not a fit for the market and divesting from the contract sooner rather than later was the course to take.

The Loney Era has arrived.

I hope going forward the Sox are more careful about big money signings on players with injuries. They gave a boatload to Gonzo knowing he was coming off shoulder surgery, some believe they were aware of Lackey's problem, hence the option for an add on year at league min if he had to have surgery and clearly should have known about Crawfords injury (Maddon basically mocked the Sox saying they knew about it for a couple of years.)

Hopefully they have learned from these blunders with this totally unexpected chance to start over.

Gonzalez is one of those ridiculous contracts that a big money team gives out to a guy at his peak in the hopes that the immediate return outweighs the drag of having an older, less productive player getting huge money does later on. He was signed to be a big piece of a team that would contend for WS titles in the front end so that they could justify the rest of it.

Now that it's obvious the Sox aren't in that position, and he hasn't quite lived up to the contract all they have is downside with him. In 2-3 years they'd be aching to get rid of him ala A-Rod. Players also aren't playing into their late 30s so much any more it seems either, which reduces the likelihood of much return on the last however many tens of millions of dollars he'll be owed.

I'm not sure buy all the talk radio stuff about his all of a sudden negative influence on the clubhouse, I just think he is the last thing a team now entering rebuild mode wants.

I really hope they don't break the bank for Hamilton.

Also, is any of this talk of Beckett having good seasons in odd numbered years said unironically? Is it even statistically accurate? It just seems it has come up enough that some people might actually believe it.

I seem to remember that Boog Powell used to do the same thing. Now I have to go to his stats to see how true that preception was.

imo, its just a matter of deciding if they are willing to risk the off the field distractions and potential for a collapse. It would be amazing to get Hamilton, but if he were to have a personal breakdown I think it would be the worst thing in the world for the media/fans.

Aside from his personal issues, he's pretty injury-prone, isn't he? It also seems to me that there is no city worse than Boston for Hamilton, especially as a big-money free agent. God I would hate to see him come to Boston and melt down, that would just be awful.

james shields :/

Didn't Hamilton's numbers nose dive after he gave up dip? Kind of funny if that had an effect.

I read that they nosed dived because he couldnt give up dip and was getting upset because he was hurting god, that he couldnt quit.
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Whether you want to attach any significance to it or not is up to you, but Beckett has performed much better in odd numbered years.

Bret Saberhagen had the same stigma.