Lester & Gomes to Oakland for Cespedes & Cash...

[SidDithers]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/red-sox-trade-jon-lester-to-as-for-yoenis-cespedes?ymd=20140731&content_id=87221336&vkey=news_mlb

Basically this is Cespedes for Gomes, plus a 2 month rental of Lester.

A's better win it all, or this trade will go down as a bad one, IMO.

Sid

[KamaAina]

1. Meanwhile, in Soxland, Pitt is wailing and gnashing his teeth

over the Sox' failure to bust out their fat wallet and pay Lester.

[SidDithers]

2. As a Jays fan, I'm just glad Lester didn't end up in Baltimore...

Sid

[KamaAina]

8. As a Giants fan, I was worried he'd end up with the Scum Bums

[Chan790]

5. If this is all Lester returns in trade...

I'm prone to agree with Will Pitt on that. Even a 2-month rental of a LH top-5 SP should return more in trade than a power hitting OF a year from FA who is an advanced statistics nightmare: Poor range, sub-.800 OPS, high-K/AB, sub-.270 BA. About the only things he has going for him is a cannon arm and upper-deck power.

We just traded an ace with a proven playoff record and a serviceable-but-not-great OF for the second coming of Pete Incaviglia. The Red Sox didn't lose this trade, they got absolutely swindled. We'd have been better off keeping Lester, not resigning him and taking the compensatory pick.

[bluedigger]

3. I predict the Sox will make a run at Lester in free agency.

If Oakland wants to keep him they better sign him while they can.

[SidDithers]

4. Absolutely...

If you were Lester, why wouldn't you want to go back to Boston, now that you'll have Cespedes mashing balls into (and over) the Monster all season long.

Sid

[hughee99]

6. I don't think Oakland will even really try.

I guy like Lester is big money for a lot of years, and Oakland doesn't have the resources for that.

[Chan790]

11. I don't.

The Red Sox position hasn't really changed since the end of last year which is why Lester's people broke off talks and said "We'll talk after the season."

I don't fault Lester in the least, he's been upfront...all things being equal or even close to equal contract-wise he wanted to play his entire career in Boston. He's very open to returning.

The Red Sox position is what it's always been under this ownership...They will not give a 5 or 6 year contract to a pitcher over-30; they're not willing to pay market-value because the farm system is stocked with pitching...none of it as good as Lester but there is a lot of it. They're not willing to meet Lester on term or AAV.

He asked for 6 years and said he'd take a discount in spring training. They offered him 5/80M when he would have taken 6/110M even though he was worth closer to 6/120M. Now it's going to be 6/145M or more.

I knew as soon as I heard the deal...they have no intention of bringing him back, only of being in a position to say "We tried! The bidding went past what we were willing to pay and he wouldn't accept our best offer to come back." They didn't want to keep him, they wanted to be able to not keep him while being able to not look like the bad guys. When they overplayed their hand, they had to take the best offer on the table that wouldn't look like they got ripped-off. Nobody was going to give them top prospects for Lester so they took the deal that returned a player with name-recognition.

[bluedigger]

12. I said they'll take a run, not that he'll sign with them.

Lester, Peavey, and now Lackey are gone. They need to sign somebody after all, and I don't think the story is over with Lester. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Auggie]

7. I'm going to miss Cespedes

He is one of those guys like Ortiz who, when he comes to bat, intensifies the game situation.

[KamaAina]

9. And now they'll be hitting back to back. In Fenway.

[joeybee12]

10. If the Sox get Lester back at the end of the season, great...

If not, phuck Lucchino and Henry.

[bluedigger]

13. Henry is usually a class act.

On a whirlwind day of roster upheaval in Boston, Red Sox-turned-A's pitcher Jon Lester said goodbye to the only team he's known in his nine-year big league career.
Barry Chin/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Jon Lester shares a moment with Red Sox owner John Henry as the ace lefty prepares to leave Fenway Park to join his new team, the Oakland Athletics.
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/39375/snapshot-henry-bids-lester-farewell

How many owners do you think did this today?

[joeybee12]

14. The asshat only wanted the photo op...

Although I am willing to admit Lucchino is the bigger asshole.

BTW, are there ANY players left after this fire sale????

[bluedigger]

15. I guess we'll have to disagree.

I can't recall any other ownership group getting us three championships, but maybe you do?

As for players, Lester was the only one they had on the roster to start the day...

[joeybee12]

16. Yeah, but I can think of others that make their teams competitive each year.

instead of worst to first to worst because they're so damn cheap. Just wait til I win powerball and instigate a hostile take-over!!!!