I thought Cherington dropped the ball in those deadline deals as they seemed to lack any direction. As he was dealing away his rotation and effectively punting, why not get players without deals but with control. Craig was a salary dump. But why did he acquire Cespedes (who was contractually barred from receivng arbitration) and Kelly? When the deals were announced, I was assuming prospects, which would have made sense in some ways. Why take the salary dump when not getting prospects, since most times teams taking on the money do so to up the return? The acquisition of the veteran players was presumably to keep the team competitive going forward, but they did nothing to replace what was dealt away. (Although Cespedes was eventually dealt for Porcello, but I seriously doubt that was the original plan.)