The Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox were the first two teams to clinch a postseason spot last week, ensuring they will play baseball into October this year.
Neither made it to the playoffs last season and although the Dodgers gave it a good go – finishing only two games out of a Wild Card place – the biggest noise both teams made in the final six weeks of the 2012 regular season came in the form of their blockbuster trade.
Years of dreadful ownership had left the once-proud Dodgers in a mess, having several high quality players but with most everything else done on the cheap. New ownership left them in a position of being incredibly cash-rich and desperate to make an impression as the 2012 season moved along. With limited chips to trade and the ability to buy players on the free agent market several months away, the Dodgers turned to an equally desperate Boston Red Sox.
The golden era of Terry Francona and Theo Epstein had turned poisonous; both departed prior to 2012 but there were a host of veteran players remaining on long-term contracts and the ill-judged decision to bring in Bobby Valentine as manager did little to herald the dawn of a new era. Boston looked like a busted flush, stuck with nowhere to go until some of those contracts ran their course and they could begin again.
But then, like a wealthy fairy godmother, the Dodgers provided the Red Sox with a lifeline and in doing so set in course a series of events that has helped both make it to the playoffs a mere one year later.
The Dodgers have received a varied return from the players they acquired. Josh Beckett pitched poorly before suffering a season-ending injury, but he always looked like being the bitter pill the Dodgers had to swallow to get a genuine quality first baseman in Adrian Gonzalez and to take a chance on the injured but talented outfielder Carl Crawford.
Both hitters have given the Dodgers decent seasons. Whilst Gonzalez hasn’t been exceptional – his 2.7 FanGraphs Win Above Replacement mark being the ninth-best of all first baseman in the Majors this season – he has provided a solid presence in the lineup all season long. The Dodgers had to wait for Carl Crawford to be fully fit but he’s performed well when he’s be on the field (2.4 WAR) and utility man Nick Punto (1.7 WAR) has been a useful cog in the machine too.
Their performances don’t quite match their salaries but the Dodgers are one team where, right now, that really doesn’t matter. They’ve got money to burn and want to win and what they needed was good veteran players that they could rely on to contribute on a consistent basis for a playoff-calibre team. That’s exactly what they’ve received.
For the Red Sox, you need to look past the players they received in the trade (James Loney moved on to the Rays over the offseason and prospects such as Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster have only pitched a few innings this season) and focus on their offseason additions. The trade was all about gaining payroll flexibility and allowing General Manager Ben Cherington to re-fresh the roster alongside new manager John Farrell.
Many balked at the sight of outfielder Shane Victorino receiving a 3-year, $33m contract but the Red Sox decided to invest in a player who they were confident could recover from a disappointing 2012 season and be a handy all-round package (at the plate, on the bases and in the outfield) to add to the mix.
He’s responded by giving the Red Sox arguably the best season of his career to date and his 5.6 WAR is better than anyone on the Dodgers team that he left as a free agent over the winter. Boston will be more than happy with the return on their investment even if – as you would expect – his performances slip back over the next two years of his deal.
Victorino was joined by the likes of Mike Napoli, Stephen Drew and Ryan Dempster as experienced players who could contribute straight away and, at the very least, make them a competitive outfit to put the misery of 2012 in the rear view mirror. A few comments were made at the start of the season that Boston may have added plenty of players, but they hadn’t added players that really made them much better.
Considering the Red Sox enter the final week of the regular season with the best record in the Majors, that viewpoint was clearly incorrect. They hadn’t added obvious impact players, yet their contributions have been extremely valuable because they’ve been accompanied by good seasons from holdovers Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz (when he’s been on injury-free) and a surprisingly decent season from injury-returnee John Lackey.
No one knew quite how last season’s mega trade would work out for either side. Twelve months on, there’s a very real possibility that the two teams could meet in a World Series. If you’re looking for a brave trade that benefited both teams, look no further than this Dodgers-Red Sox deal.
