Today, in the biggest trade since Cliff Lee's trade several days ago, the Red Sox acquired C/1B Victor Martinez from the Indians for pitchers Nick Hagadone and Justin Masterson.Martinez is a switch hitting catcher. He is one of the best hitting catchers in the game and can play First Base as well. His production went down last year suffering from various injuries, but he is back firing on all cylinders this year and was named to the A.L. All Star team earlier this month.
Masterson was #3 in the Red Sox pitching prospect chain behind Jon Lester and Clay Bucholz. He has had reasonable success in the Majors, but has totally torn up the minors so far.
Hagadone, the lone unrecognizable name in the trade, is a big southpaw who is recovering from Tommy John Surgery. He resumed pitching regimens in May and is often compared to a Jon Lester-type pitcher. However, his velocity has gone down since the surgery.
Winner: Red Sox
It's become a pattern that the teams receiving the minor league prospects for the MLB All-Star are often the losers. I was very shocked to hear that, like the Phillies in the Lee trade, the Indians didn't ask for the better prospect. They didn't push too hard for Happ OR Drabek for Lee, and now they didn't push for Bucholz or Bard for Martinez. The Indians are about to go through a very dark time in the next 2 or 3 seasons
On the contrary, I see the tribe as the winner of this deal for a plethora of reasons.
ReplyDelete-Victor Martinez will be a free agent after this season, and the type A status figures to work against the Sox, as if they offer arbitration, the pay day figures to be massive.
-The Red Sox are now absolutely clogged with C/1B/DH players between Casey Kotchman, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, George Kottaras and now Victor Martinez. While the depth is massive, you can only play 3 guys in 3 positions; there will be a lot of wasted talent here.
-Justin Masterson, in my mind, was the centerpiece of this deal, not Nick Hagadone (which speaks in great lengths). Anytime someone compared alongside young stars such as Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, eyes open up, and in this case, it's for good reason. Masterson has been Masterful (pun intended) at all levels and scouts universally agree he is near-MLB ready. At 24, look for him to be the anchor of Clevelend's rotation in the future.
The tribe also acquired pitcher Bryan Price, who does not figure to make any sort of impact. Regardless, Cleveland got two stud prospects for a guy who not only would've been out of town at the end of season, but figures to have only marginal impact in an already stacked lineup.
The Sox are now paying their captain $5 million this year and $5 or $3 million (depends whether the Sox or Tek picks up the option) to ride the bench.