Lester/Gomes to the A's

[Jasonbay44]

What an awful f***ing trade... Only way I'm okay with this trade is if we re-sign Lester in off-season. I'm definitely rooting for A's in post-season now though, they have a very likable team.

[GomesBeard]

What an awful f***ing trade... Only way I'm okay with this trade is if we re-sign Lester in off-season. I'm definitely rooting for A's in post-season now though, they have a very likable team.

 

And a bunch of ex-Sox...

[d-money]

I am rooting for Lester and the As as well but the tigers really got tougher by adding that ******* david price.I hope the tigers choke again.

[Wasatch]

I think this is stupid that we let Lester leave, he was our best pitcher.

[jd98]

basically, Lester was traded to get the A's competitive balanced pick.

 

Last year, that would have been the 70th overall pick. Hell, they probably could have traded just Gomes for that.

[RedSoxNC84]

This team was obviously desperate for a power bat.

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

What am I missing here? Lester is a FA and has a home in Boston. Are they really now is a worse situation then they would have been had they kept him with regard to their ability to resign him? I just don't see how.

 

So instead of holding on to him and possibly losing him in the off season they have added a pretty big bat, something they desperately needed. And it seems to me they are in the same position regarding the ability to sign Lester this off season as they would have been had they kept him.

[RedSoxNC84]

Honestly if they talked to Lester first and said something like yo dude, we're going to trade you for a power bat, and then resign you after the season, cool? I don't think that happened, but you never know.

 

I still think Ben is going to pull something crazy out of his ass that will blow us away somehow.

[Spudboy]

What am I missing here? Lester is a FA and has a home in Boston. Are they really now is a worse situation then they would have been had they kept him with regard to their ability to resign him? I just don't see how.

 

So instead of holding on to him and possibly losing him in the off season they have added a pretty big bat, something they desperately needed. And it seems to me they are in the same position regarding the ability to sign Lester this off season as they would have been had they kept him.

 

 

Wrong.

 

They do not have the compensation pick anymore so more teams may enter the fray and some teams may justify bidding higher.

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

Wrong.

 

They do not have the compensation pick anymore so more teams may enter the fray and some teams may justify bidding higher.

 

Yeah maybe but with a deal as big as Lester is going to get from someone I just don't see a comp pick as being so valuable it will sway a team either way. But I could be wrong. Either way giving a guy on the wrong side of 30 6 years is a dangerous move, even a guy as proven as Lester.

[Northern Star]

Lackey to Cards for an OF. Could it be Taveras?

 

Between this and saying Cespedes plays good D I'm beginning to question your baseball smarts.

 

I don't like the trade because it wasn't just Lester, we gave up Gomes too and the other part coming back is a low draft pick. Cespedes doesn't hit for enough average, this is now two years of sub .800 OPS, and his DWAR is close to zero. He literally is all or nothing, the type of player I thought we were avoiding? Add in the clause that turns him into a FA next year and this deal is ridiculously bad. I know Lester's a rental but he was one of the top two arms on the market. Cherries should have been squeezing the other GMs for something better than what we got.

[Northern Star]

What am I missing here? Lester is a FA and has a home in Boston. Are they really now is a worse situation then they would have been had they kept him with regard to their ability to resign him? I just don't see how.

 

So instead of holding on to him and possibly losing him in the off season they have added a pretty big bat, something they desperately needed. And it seems to me they are in the same position regarding the ability to sign Lester this off season as they would have been had they kept him.

 

What you're missing is the Sox philosophy of not giving 30 year old pitchers more than 4 years. No way they win the bidding if they stick to that. He's getting at least six years offered by someone else, guaranteed. The ESPN guy interviewed on the radio said he might give up one year, but not two.

 

And if they break that philosophy....well, what was the point of lowballing him in the first place?

[Palodios]

Between this and saying Cespedes plays good D I'm beginning to question your baseball smarts.

 

I believe in numbers.

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=13110&position=OF#fieldingadvanced

[Spudboy]

I believe my eyes.

 

Cespedes is an athletic corner outfielder with substandard fielding skills that he can sometime compensate for with speed and a strong and accurate arm.

 

Of course he may continue to refine his skills at 28 years old.

[Northern Star]

I believe my eyes.

 

Cespedes is an athletic corner outfielder with substandard fielding skills that he can sometime compensate for with speed and a strong and accurate arm.

 

Of course he may continue to refine his skills at 28 years old.

 

It's Manny 2.0 with a lesser bat.

[Behindenemylines]

Honestly if they talked to Lester first and said something like yo dude, we're going to trade you for a power bat, and then resign you after the season, cool? I don't think that happened, but you never know.

 

I still think Ben is going to pull something crazy out of his ass that will blow us away somehow.

 

If the above happens then the Sox win this trade. Resign Lester and get Cespedes, that would be a win for Sox. Also, I have also seen that the Marlins were big on Cespedes and he could become a piece that helps gets Stanton. The package the Sox must come up with looks a lot better if the Marlins can get a power bat back.

[RedSoxNC84]

As far as the Cespedes defense talk, he's not the best defensive fielder, but he fields better than Gomes does out in left, and has a better bat.

[RedSoxNC84]

If the above happens then the Sox win this trade. Resign Lester and get Cespedes, that would be a win for Sox. Also, I have also seen that the Marlins were big on Cespedes and he could become a piece that helps gets Stanton. The package the Sox must come up with looks a lot better if the Marlins can get a power bat back.

 

That package is going to include prospects and probably will be too high of an asking price.

[Northern Star]

I started reading the FB comments at espn and had to stop. So many f***ing clueless idiots who didn't even read the article.

[Northern Star]

If the above happens then the Sox win this trade. Resign Lester and get Cespedes, that would be a win for Sox. Also, I have also seen that the Marlins were big on Cespedes and he could become a piece that helps gets Stanton. The package the Sox must come up with looks a lot better if the Marlins can get a power bat back.

 

Replacing Stanton with Cespedes is a huge step back, and how much will Cespedes bring as a FA? More than Miami is likely wanting to pay.

[curiousd]

I think we are going back to something like the pre - Duquette era. Management generally kept enough power bats in the line up to have high scoring, interesting games. But the pitching was seldom good enough to seriously contend. Henry wants to operate on the cheap and woo the fans with smoke and mirrors. Soccer, anyone?

[seabeachfred]

I think we are going back to something like the pre - Duquette era. Management generally kept enough power bats in the line up to have high scoring, interesting games. But the pitching was seldom good enough to seriously contend. Henry wants to operate on the cheap and woo the fans with smoke and mirrors. Soccer, anyone?

 

Well said C!!!!!!! I will laud those on the board who want to see the positives in what went down today but to me these trades aren't worth s***. We lost two solid pitchers and now our rotation is fit for the outhouse. Unless we get two top notch pitchers by next Spring you can kiss off 2015 and most likely 2016 as well. And woe to those fans who act like idiots and buy into what Prune Face Henry is trying to do. He should fool no one with any sense. We took a bad hit today.

[RiceLynnEvans]

Don't like this one bit....unless, of course, Lester comes back. Then, not as bad, but when you have last year's World Series hero Johnny Lester and what he's done so far this year, especially over the past couple of starts, you've gotta get more in return. Cespedes is an upgrade over Gomes, but Cespedes is the polar opposite of the team approach, and some of his hacking makes me doubt that the FO has this guy staying in town for long. He's gotta be a cog in another trade. There's definitely something else going on....if not, no need to cool Fenway next summer, Naps, WMB and C'sped will fan enough to cool the whole Back Bay.

[NativeBostonian]

Now that the dust has settled, and I have had time to take it all in, I’m not too upset with what the Red Sox did today. Because the Red Sox screwed up the Lester situation, they had no chose but to trade him and they got something that they desperately needed in exchange for Lester, a right-handed power bat.

 

At Fenway Park, Cespedes is built to put holes in the Green Monster. He has averaged around 25 home runs or so, in a pitchers park. Put him in Fenway for the majority of the season, his numbers are bound to go up. That is one of the things the outfield was missing this year, power.

 

Then, they added something else that the offense was missing, someone who drives in a lot of runs. Before this season, Allen Craig has known for being a good RBI guy; they actually called him Mr. RBI in St. Louis. He’s a solid player and people need to look past his injury pledged season this year and see the bigger picture.

[reYoukilis]

Don't like this one bit....unless, of course, Lester comes back. Then, not as bad, but when you have last year's World Series hero Johnny Lester and what he's done so far this year, especially over the past couple of starts, you've gotta get more in return. Cespedes is an upgrade over Gomes, but Cespedes is the polar opposite of the team approach, and some of his hacking makes me doubt that the FO has this guy staying in town for long. He's gotta be a cog in another trade. There's definitely something else going on....if not, no need to cool Fenway next summer, Naps, WMB and C'sped will fan enough to cool the whole Back Bay.

I agree with this though if hes a free agent next season I dont see him being much in the way of being trade bait. I think its a low risk tryout or to give ticket buyers something to oooh and aaaah about the rest of this season.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Then, they added something else that the offense was missing, someone who drives in a lot of runs. Before this season, Allen Craig has known for being a good RBI guy; they actually called him Mr. RBI in St. Louis. He’s a solid player and people need to look past his injury pledged season this year and see the bigger picture.

So apparently they don't jack s*** about baseball in St. Louis.

 

RBI is dumb and the people who trust it are dumb.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

I think we are going back to something like the pre - Duquette era. Management generally kept enough power bats in the line up to have high scoring, interesting games. But the pitching was seldom good enough to seriously contend. Henry wants to operate on the cheap and woo the fans with smoke and mirrors. Soccer, anyone?

Yeah, 3 world series championships in 10 years is totally smoke and mirrors. Shut up. I heard the same s*** about being doomed to mediocrity forever when we traded everyone in 2012.

[Northern Star]

Now that the dust has settled, and I have had time to take it all in, I’m not too upset with what the Red Sox did today. Because the Red Sox screwed up the Lester situation, they had no chose but to trade him and they got something that they desperately needed in exchange for Lester, a right-handed power bat.

 

At Fenway Park, Cespedes is built to put holes in the Green Monster. He has averaged around 25 home runs or so, in a pitchers park. Put him in Fenway for the majority of the season, his numbers are bound to go up. That is one of the things the outfield was missing this year, power.

 

Then, they added something else that the offense was missing, someone who drives in a lot of runs. Before this season, Allen Craig has known for being a good RBI guy; they actually called him Mr. RBI in St. Louis. He’s a solid player and people need to look past his injury pledged season this year and see the bigger picture.

 

Oh, he'll put 25 over the wall all right, but what else does he bring to the plate the rest of the time? Answer: not much.

[reYoukilis]

Oh, he'll put 25 over the wall all right, but what else does he bring to the plate the rest of the time? Answer: not much.

True but then again we need someone to drive in all these high OBP guys.

[RedSoxNC84]

True but then again we need someone to drive in all these high OBP guys.

 

Someone who can actually hit with RISP