Trade Theo!

The trading deadline is a fun time of year for baseball fans. If your team is in the playoff hunt, this is when they can fill the holes they have and become a World Series contender. If your team is not in the playoff hunt, it’s a time to stock up on the future so you’re even better next year. This year, several of the elite teams in the AL had obvious holes to fill going into deadline day. For example:

LA needed some power in their line-up. They have the league’s best record, great starting pitching and a fantastic bullpen. But, they needed some pop in the order to cement their place as the class of the league. So, they traded for Mark Teixeira. Bingo. Hole filled and the Angels got better.

The Yankees had some holes. They needed a lefty reliever. They needed an outfielder to account for some injuries. Same thing with a catcher. So, they grabbed Marte, Nady, and Rodriguez. Bingo. Holes filled and the Yankees got better.

The Red Sox had some holes. They needed bullpen help. They could use a shortstop to cover for an injury (and lousiness). They had one too many centerfielders. So, they….um…traded away their best hitter? Well at least the guy they got back is…um…worse than the guy they traded away? At least they got some bullpen help in the…um…they actually traded away one of their bullpen arms? Well, the other guy they got is a nice prosp…um…they didn’t get anybody else? They actually gave up another young outfielder as well? At least they got some cash in the deal so they could…um…they actually gave 7 million dollars away in the deal? To the Dodgers? What the heck is going on here? Holes got bigger and the Red Sox got worse.

So, the bullpen still stinks. And now, the line-up takes a hit so it’s harder to make up for a lousy bullpen? Was Theo at a Pearl Jam concert yesterday, or being the GM of the Boston Red Sox? From here on in, we get to watch Ortiz get intentionally walked 500 times, and the run production go down the tubes. Yippie. Was the bottom of the order not enough of a drag on scoring?

I think it’d be easier to swallow if the Yankee fans would stop e-mailing and calling to say how happy they are and thanking me for handing them the division on a big silver platter.

I will give Theo a little credit. If you look at the schedules, he at least picked a good time to make a boneheaded trade. In August, the Sox will play Oakland, KC, Chicago, and Texas instead of Tampa, LA, Minnesota, and Seattle. So, for a while, the much easier schedule will make the deal look slightly better than it is. But, things will drop back in September.

I’d say it was the worst trade Theo’s ever made. But, there have been so many stinkers, it’d be hard to say with any certainty which was the worst.