Trading Deadilne 2009

As has become his custom, Theo did his best to make a splash this year. It wasn't a huge deal (as in it wasn't trading Nomar or Manny, and certainly not getting Halladay), but it's the kind of thing Theo has been out to do since Christmas shopping at Wal-Mart last offseason: He helped make the team better.

With 37-year-old catcher Jason Varitek starting to wear down a bit, and hobbled 35-year-old third baseman and star class-act Mike Lowell neading about two days a week off, the Sox snapped up Indians catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez. 'V-Mart' will probably play the bulk of the time, and is expected to get most of the starts against righties. With 'Tek basically sucking from the left side, and Lowell preferring to hit lefties, Martinez will probably spell them both twice a week. Also, expect him to get the odd start as DH and spell David Ortiz a little more than he has been in the first half. Also, having Martinez lets Terry Francona rest lineup staple Kevin Youkilis, whose intense playing style leads him to wear down in the second half sometimes (career .262 second half hitter).

Also, and most importantly, Martinez will bring some hurt to the 'C' spot, and will help phase out Jason Varitek next year. Next year will be very important for the catcher position. No way Varitek comes back for 2011, so the Sox will have to either A) sign Martinez, B) pursue Mauer as they are expected to, or C) see if Luis Exposito is ready to hit the Majors.

All of these things aside, I think the Red Sox actually may have overdone it. In order to bring in Martinez, they had to give up swingman extrodinaire Justin Masterson, lefty prospect Nick Hagadone (2007 #1 team pick) and the live-armed Bryan Price. Justin Masterson will be sorely missed here, now. He isn't having a great year, but he has great stuff and will be a future big league horse. In addition he was a quintessential 'glue-man' in the Red Sox bullpen over the past two years. Losing him for Martinez would have been something I would be willing to sacrifice. However, Nick Hagadone has great stuff and has a very high ceiling.

Also, bringing in Martinez creates a logjam. If Martinez is the backup first baseman, where does that leave Adam LaRoche? I'll tell you where: Atlanta. In order to create room for Martinez, Theo shipped LARoche, all 6 games of him, to the Braves for the versitile Casey Kotchman. And when I say versitile I mean he is another first baseman. Kotchman will be our designated Doug Mientkiewitz (how did I do?), or a late inning defensive replacement for... Gold Glove winner Kevin Youkilis? I know, Lowell is decrepit, so Youk will play third, then Kotchman can play first. What's that? Victor Martinez is an above-average fielder? Casey Kotchman is useless?

So we dropped a great clubhouse guy, and sold a potential piece of our future, and so we have one too many first basemen. So what? Bottom line: we have the most dangerous #8 hitter in the game, Mikey Lowell, Varitek and Youk will be that much fresher for the postseason, and Jonathan Papelbon, with his second 1-2-3 inning of 2009, just locked up Smoltz' second win. This team is better than it was 24 hours ago, and that's the bottom ine.