Mota Added to Beckett Deal; Snow and Edes Carry Water for the Sox
Just a quick note: the Sox managed to get Guillermo Mota added to the Beckett deal, which is a good thing just in the “let’s have another solid arm for the pen” way. I don’t expect Mota to regain the amazing numbers he put up in ’03 or even the good numbers he put up in ’04. He’s more likely to just be an league average arm, but that’s better than a bunch of the arms the Sox ran through the pen last year, so that’s ok with me.
With each bit of good news, comes a bit of bad news. Chris Snow and Gordon Edes, the Globe’s two main Sox writers, had managed to stay above the “Sox-Globe improprieties” mess. They have both proven to be solid, talented writers on occasion, and certainly competent the rest of the time.
But when you see trade “analysis” like in today’s Globe, you certainly wonder if it is simply an impossibility at the Globe to offer a critical eye to anything the Sox do these days.
The bit that rubbed me wrong?
And so, the deal, after this major permutation, reads like this: Beckett (the new ace of the Sox staff), Lowell (the new starting third baseman, and a Gold Glove winner in 2005), and Mota (one of baseball’s premier setup men in 2003 and ’04) for Double A shortstop Hanley Ramírez, Double A righthander Anibal Sanchez, and Single A righthanders Jesus Delgado and Garcia.
Beckett’s very good, and I like him an awful lot. That being said, he’s never in his career had numbers good enough to be considered an “ace.” He could certainly, and likely will, continue to develop a bit, but if he’s the ace of the staff, the Sox will have one of the worst #1 starters amongst the baseball elites.
The kicker, of course, is Lowell. Right now, he shouldn’t be penciled in for a roster spot, let alone to be the starting third baseman. This is a guy who hit like a crippled Pokey Reese last year. Worse than Bellhorn, or Renteria, or Millar, or anybody the Sox ran out there basically. A sub-.300 OBP, a sub-.370 SLG, and he’s our starting 3B? There’s a whole lot of evidence that he’s done, cooked, busted. And the Globe is trying to spin it like the Sox acquired Scott Rolen. That’s just downright dishonest.
This is an ok trade for the Sox. It’s not a steal. We gave up 2 very highly touted prospects, and 2 high ceiling prospects, for a really good pitcher who may never be great and may never be completely healthy; an aging, declining, possibly cooked, yet still expensive 3B; and a setup guy who had 2 good years in a really good pitching environment, and a whole lot of mediocre years.
It’s a win now move, but this isn’t a steal, it’s not a definite “win,” and it’s not even a no-brainer. Quite frankly, I wonder if this is a move that Theo wouldn’t have stayed away from, as it thins out the farm system a good deal and adds in a couple of players (Mota, Lowell) who’ll probably not be better than the younger counterparts we already have (Youkilis, Delcarmen/Hansen/DiNardo), but “savvy vets” so Terry Francona will feel comfortable using them.
Long term percocet withdrawal symptoms….
Percocet alieve. Percocet aspirin. Percocet high blood pressure. Percocet. Percocet vs. lortabs….