Two more trades!

Surprising many, including me, that Red Sox actually did some wheeling and dealing at the trade deadline. It was my prediction that they would “stick with what they had” and we would be watching Theo Epstein on NESN talking about how they didn’t want to “mortgage the future” and they “like our guys” and sound clips of that sort. And then the Sox would miss the playoffs by two games as Jason Varitek continued to throw no one out (he is just 13 for 90 in throwing out runners, and 6 of those 13 are actually pitcher pickoffs!), Mike Lowell couldn’t move more than one step to the side, Brad Penny and Nick Green continued their transmogrification back into pumpkins, and John Smoltz and Tim Wakefield showed why it’s a bad idea to count on 800-year-old pitchers.

Amid many rumors, the Red Sox made two deals that improve the major league roster and come at a relatively minimal cost to the farm system or the organizational depth. Unfortunately, these moves fail to address what I consider the main weaknesses of the team, but they do represent a solid improvement for the stretch run, assuming the on-field management implements the players correctly.

Trade 1: Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price for Victor Martinez.

Victor Martinez is a very nice piece to add to the Red Sox. Not only is he a solid hitter, having put up an .850 OPS in every full year since 2004, but he can also catch and play first base. This is useful for the Sox, as Victor can essentially give Varitek, Lowell, Youkilis and David Ortiz more rest while Martinez will likely provide production on par with all of them. One concern with Martinez could be his throwing arm, but he’s likely an upgrade over Varitek, at least.

As for what the Sox gave up, it’s not a whole lot. I like Justin Masterson, but he simply hasn’t figured out how to get left-handers out and really only has two pitches, which limits his ceiling. Nick Hagadone has lots of potential, but is only in A ball and has already undergone Tommy John surgery. Similarly, Bryan Price is a few years away from contributing on the major league level, so at best these two players are lottery tickets. As the Red Sox have lots of pitching depth in the low minors, they probably won’t miss either Price or Hagadone very much, nor will they miss Masterson, who was pretty far down the bullpen depth chart.

Trade 2: Andy LaRoche for Casey Kotchman

There’s not a whole lot to say about this one. Kotchman will help the team more than LaRoche, is cheaper and is under control for longer. He’s young enough that there’s a chance he develops further, which LaRoche wasn’t going to do, and Kotchman is a better fielder which is important given Lowell’s poor fielding this year.

I have no problem with either of these trades; in fact, they are both good deals. The problem is that neither does anything to address the real problems the team has – starting pitching and shortstop. Jed Lowrie is a good player, but it seems that he can’t play every day yet and Nick Green is turning back into a pumpkin, especially defensively, which is particularly unacceptable. And 3/5s of the rotation is: a young player with questions about whether he can “put it together,” a fat journeyman who has a 5.93 ERA in July, which has put him about to the level I predicted he would pitch at, and a future Hall of Famer who can’t seem to pitch past the 5th inning with any success. This presents a problem not only in getting to the postseason but also in advancing if they do get there.

Given that both Jack Wilson and Cliff Lee (who is nearly as good as Halladay) were traded for relatively little (Philadelphia managed to keep their two favorite prospects, so it’s conceivable Lee could have been had without Buchholz), I am disappointed the Red Sox didn’t end up with them. Obviously no one can be sure that they didn’t pursue them seriously, but if the team fails to make the postseason because of a lack of pitching, don’t say I didn’t warn of it.