Lester/Gomes to A's for Cespedes; Lackey to Cards

[SharoneWright]

That arm taking all those balls off that wall...

Opposing teams held to singles.

[Santoki]

I want the A's to win the World Series so we can get a sequel.

[Schad]

That arm taking all those balls off that wall...

Opposing teams held to singles.

Though in Fenway, playing the hop is perhaps more important than having a strong arm, and Cespedes has a wee bit of a problem with that aspect at times...it'll be fun to watch, regardless.

[satyr9]

I don't see how the Red Sox can compete next year, which is apparently what they're trying to do. They've now traded away 3/5ths of their opening day starting rotation, and in return they get a fringe - though young - starter, a decent offensive player who's having a terrible year and carries a substantial contract, and a decent outfielder who's only signed for one more year. With starting pitching so expensive, and with a mediocre offense, I really don't see how they fill out that team. They'll have to spend a lot of money, that's for sure.

I can't say it'll work, but if you see a huge market team acquiring inexpensive assets for next year and leaving a gaping hole, I think you can assume they plan on filling that hole with giant buckets of cash.

In that vein, I'm sure it helped to deal Lester to Oak, as they know for a certainty Beane won't be in the market to keep Lester. MIL probably would've been better in case Lester realizes he likes sunshine and an LA team throws money at him, but otherwise they probably like their chances getting him to agree to take their money if it's equal to other teams.

Bring Lester back, but now with Cespedes just bouncing flyballs off the monster all day behind Papi and spend another 28-30m more on Scherzer or Shields. Let Kelly fill the 5th role 'til June to avoid potential super 2 on Owens or Ranaudo, use Webster and the rest of what's there to battle for the spots in the middle and things could work perfectly. Maybe get really crazy and spend 25m again to finally bring Hanley home and play 3B. Of course that's a dozen things that have to go right and requires allocating a half a billion in future salary, but they'll likely get enough of it to still look better next year than this year. Being a GM is so much easier when you have 50m or more extra to spend over your competitors.

[Michael Bradley]

I think the Red Sox will end up with one of Shields/Scherzer in addition to Lester. The they can trade some prospects for additional help. I wouldn't write them off for next year.

[MikeM]

Ya but at the same time, they just added two .300 or below OBPs to their lineup when those spots could have been filled much better (cough, Stanton).

So in that case, I'm elated.

Pedroia's done and Papi should be done shortly (the latter is a fact). I'm not scared of them unless they sign 3 pitchers.

[Avenger]

Yeah let's not mourn for the Red Sox, they'll probably be the best team in the division next year

I expect one monster FA like Scherzer signing and a monster trade, maybe even Stanton

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[Lateral Quicks]

I definitely see how it's possible, but they'll have to spend lots of money and prospects to make it happen. It would be pretty ballsy to go all in like that and basically remake your team in one season.

[Randle McMurphy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/494904965761355776[/tweet]

If that's the case, the deal looks worse for the Red Sox. But only time will tell with this.

[Black Watch]

Yer a wizard, Billy!

If Colby was having a better season, maybe that gets us Lester.

Probably not.

[Dan2087]

If not us, then I really hope the A's win the WS. I really like their team and their pitching staff is so stacked now