Sinking Ship in Boston Dumps Its Treasure

Have you heard about the man who bangs his head against the wall because it feels so good when he stops? He's today's Boston Red Sox. 

The Sox and Dodgers are reportedly on the verge of a deal whose main asset to L.A. is the immediate acquisition of four expensive, talented veterans, and whose main asset to Boston is the immediate departure of them. 

(For the record, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto are reportedly headed to L.A. for some minor leaguers, a talented young pitcher with 61 innings of MLB experience and a first-base placeholder in James Loney.)

With the ship sinking, or perhaps sunk, weighed down in part by bloated contracts to under-performing veterans, the Sox appear to be scuttling the ballast and racing to shore, from which they can rebuild the team in the off-season. Beckett, whose salad days in Boston are over, is owed $31.5 million over the next two years. Crawford, who has yet to mix his greens in New England, has five years and $102 million left on his deal. Gonzalez brought his hitting shoes to the Saux and seems worth the $127 million over six years remaining. (None of these include what's left of this year's contract.) Punto doesn't belong on this list; he's a utility player who works for food.

In short, the Sox shed more than $50 million in salaries each of the next two seasons and the production of only one reliable asset. They will pay through the nose to replace A-Gon's production, but perhaps GM Ben Cherrington, having taken stock of his starting rotation, is punting 2013 as well.

The Dodgers, now the proud owners of pending free agent Shane Victorino and the flickering candle of Hanley Ramirez's attention span, have pushed all their chips to the center of the table in 2012. They appear willing to eat those insane contracts as the cost of transforming their lineup with Gonzalez. 

Somewhere in this sour goulash is the ongoing Fenway saga in which Gonzalez and Beckett are reported to be major ingredients. There's no way to determine how much this deal is seasoned with that consideration, but it appears at least to be relevant.

Crawford's ability to heal from TJ surgery and rebound, Beckett's rejuvenation in Chavez Ravine and the development of Rubby de la Rosa and the prospects could go a long way towards determining the value of this trade to each side. That is, unless the Dodgers end October in a dogpile, in which case all other considerations are moot.