ESPN: John Lester traded to Oakland

[knuckleballer]

Boston Marlins fire sale after a title?

Certainly seems like it.  My guess is this is all setting up to get the Marlins' best player.  Stanton is going to command a long term contract at close to $30m per season and there is no way way the Marlins pay him that.  The Sox now have 7 Prospects that will be ready for the major league rotations next season:  Renaudo, Webster, Barnes, Workman, Wright, De La Rosa, Owens.   They also have a stud in Mookie Betts who is blocked at his best position by Pedroia.  I fully expect them to go agressively after Stanton in the offseason.  Re-signing Lester will be a coup.  I can't wait to see what happens.

[Beat LA]

Excuse me, Red Sox fans, but can someone please explain to me why Boston is having a liquidation sale?   I know that this season hasn't gone how anyone wanted, expected, it to, but to trade your two best pitchers, in the regular and postseasons just makes no sense to me.  Lackey out-dueled Justin Verlander in a critical game 3 on the road last year   How many guys can do that?  Pitching doesn't exactly grow on trees.  Trust me, I know, haha.  You can never have enough pitching.  EVER!

They were going to lose Lester in free agency so getting a power bat in Cespedes is a pretty good deal.
As for Lackey, I don't think he was going to pitch for $500,000 next season so as might as well get something for him as well, which they did.

I mean, listen, I've just seen the reports of the Lester trade and I'm even more confused.  First, they refuse to come to an agreement on a contract over money, but then ship him, Jonny Gomes, and CASH to Oakland?   Oh man.  Of course, I also don't understand how they're now saying that in trading Lester, they're confident in their ability to resign him in the offseason.  Um, what?  I would understand the idea behind such a move if this was dynasty mode in mvp baseball, maybe , but I just don't get it.  Lester is a true Red Sock, and I say that as a compliment, like Pedroia and Ortiz.  In my experience, you don't trade those players.

I'm also, just for the record, not one of those obnoxious Yankees fans.  I've always had much more faith in the Red Sox, believe it or not.  Take 2004 for example.  Yeah, Torre overused Rivera during the year, Tom Gordon was atrocious, as per his reputation, haha, and A-Rod was horrible (don't get me started on that guy.  He is not a true Yankee, imo, and I still hate the fact that Soriano was traded for him.  Ugh.), but even when they won game 3 19-8, I believe, I wasn't jumping for joy - I was more in shock.  I said, "something's wrong here.  They obviously haven't woken up yet or something."  If there was one team that could overcome an 0-3 deficit, it was the Red Sox.  They play like the Yankees teams of the 90s - they never give up, don't give an inch, and always seem to come back.  I've seen too many 8th-9th inning rallies, and never-before-seen types of comebacks, like against the Rays, not to expect them to always come back.  No lead is safe against Boston, and when, on the rare occasion that they don't come back, I'm always shocked.  Always.  The Red Sox have been operating since Theo like the old Yankees, in terms of developing talent, not just buying their players.  I hate that about the Yankees, because when they were in their heyday, yeah, they'd sign a big guy every once and a while or make a trade for an established player, but those moves were only ever made to fill out the roster, not to build a core with such a strategy.  I like the home-grown approach, and greatly prefer it to the video game model used by Mark Cuban and Brian Cashman.  I'm probably the weirdest Yankee fan you'll ever meet, haha.