So we can start with the trade deadline. All the talk in the world and no movement of Roy Halladay. JP Ricciardi decided that he didn’t want his job anymore. How else do you not move Halladay and build up your young arms? Yup, he’ll be canned after this season. See you later.
Another GM that will probably be looking for employment this offseason is Padres GM Kevin Towers. The Sox attempted to trade for Adrian Gonzalez and apparently Towers asking price for Gonzalez was “three times Halladay’s asking price” according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark. Well you know what the Sox made a couple deals.
One that they tried to get that they were shot down was Felix Hernandez. It would take at least the farm plus one or two guys on the current roster to pry King Felix from Seattle. The Seattle GM would have to be high on peyote in order to trade him. So never.
Around 2:30 rumors started circulating that the Sox had acquired Victor Martinez from the Indians. Well, the Sox had just made a deal the week before for a first baseman. So what do you do with Adam LaRoche? You dump him back to Atlanta for Casey Kotchman. Kotchman was part of the Teixeira last season. He can play outfield, first base and in two seasons in Atlanta has zero errors at first.
A little while later the Victor Martinez trade became official. The Sox dealt Justin Masterson off the current roster along with minor leaguers Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price. Martinez was immediately inserted into the #3 spot in the line up and did nothing but power the offense. 1-5 in the debut but then 5-6 in an 18-10 rout on Sunday. Glad to have this guy on board.
The funny thing with all the trades is that the Sox have Brian Anderson (acquired for Kotsay) and Chris Duncan (acquire for Julio Lugo) in Pawtucket and instead of bringing them up, they brought up Josh Reddick. Reddick decided to go 4 for 11 over the weekend while DL Drew hurt himself yet again.
Sox sweep the O’s in a wonderful weekend in Baltimore. That’s more like it. Off to Tampa only a half game behind New York for first in the division. Good thing New York did nothing at the trade deadline.
