Had the Dodgers completed the season having only acquired relievers Brandon League and Randy Choate, outfielder Shane Victorino, shortstop Hanley Ramirez, and starter Joe Blanton, that alone would have been a huge haul for a streaky team with playoff aspirations. However, what began to transpire on Friday very well may give the Dodgers the best lineup in the National League, while also supplying a veteran, playoff-tested arm to a rotation that just lost Chad Billingsley to an elbow injury last night.
After claiming first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and starting pitcher Josh Beckett off waivers from the Red Sox, the workings of a major trade began to unfold. By Friday afternoon, the news began to break that the Dodgers and Red Sox had agreed in principle to send Gonzo, Beckett, left fielder Carl Crawford, and utility infielder Nick Punto to Los Angeles in exchange for first baseman James Loney, minor league pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. and outfielder Jerry Sands.
Complicating the trade was the matter of Crawford's no-trade clause, which included the Dodgers, and Beckett's 10-and-5 rights, which give him authority to decline being traded. (Note: 10-and-5 refers to a player that has been in the majors for 10 years, with the last five being with his current team.) On the Dodgers' side of things, De La Rosa was claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays, while he was put on the waiver wire, therefore, he had to be pulled back and optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he will remain until he is eligible to head to Boston as the "player to be named later." That being said, all obstacles had been cleared up by Saturday morning, allowing the deal to move forward.
For the Red Sox, this trade is essentially a salary dump, with the team agreeing to pay only $14 million of the approximately $270 million dollars of current and future salaries the Dodgers are taking on. On the field, Loney gives Boston an immediate option to replace Gonzalez at first until the offseason, while Sands and De Jesus give the team sorely-needed middle infield and outfield depth and De La Rosa and Webster, the Dodgers' second-ranked prospect, give the Sox a pair of high-quality, young arms to add to their starting rotation in the next year or two.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez finally gives Los Angeles a power-hitting, slick-fielding first baseman to replace the struggling Loney, a battle-tested starter in Beckett, who will likely slide into Billingsley's rotation spot until he is healthy, a potentially top-tier left fielder and top of the order bat in Crawford, who will sit out the rest of this season after having Tommy John surgery on his left throwing arm, and a dependable utility infielder in Punto, who will fill the role of Jerry Hairston Jr., who is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing hip surgery.
While I would have liked to not have to take on Crawford and his behemoth contract, he could prove to be a good option in left field next year, with Shane Victorino becoming a free agent at season's end. In any case, he would at least keep the position warm until Yasiel Puig shows that he is ready to make the jump up from the minors.
At the end of the day, this move shows that new Dodgers ownership is not afraid to take on massive amounts of salary if it means they have a better chance of bringing the World Series trophy back to Los Angeles.
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