DK's Dugout

DK’s Red Sox “All-Time Trade Deadline Team”

As the end of each July approaches the baseball world faces a barrage of rumors flying in every direction as the major league trade deadline looms large. Each season there are buyers looking to add that missing piece to a potential title contender, and sellers looking to unload players for the most they can get as their franchises build toward the future. Fortunately for Red Sox fans Boston has found themselves a buyer more often than not, and the result has been quite a few solid players coming to Fenway for the homestretch of seasons.

The best among these solid roster additions are the ones who did the job they were acquired for. For some this means pitching solid down the stretch to help Boston reach the playoffs; for others it means blossoming from prospect to legitimate major league contributor (even if it may not happen for a few years).

While keeping in mind the varying criteria for what makes for a solid trade deadline acquisition, here is my Red Sox “All-Time Trade Deadline Team”, (Note: I called this “DK’s Team” since it covers only trades I actually remember, which covers the past 20 years):

Catcher – Jason Varitek. The Captain of the Red Sox, and starting catcher on this season’s AL All-Star squad, is the lone player on this team acquired when the Sox were actually a seller, not a buyer. At the time (1997) Boston was shopping their closer, Heathcliff Slocumb, and the Seattle Mariners gave the Sox an offer they couldn’t refuse…and then some. In what is perhaps the greatest trade in team history the Sox got both V-Tek and Derek Lowe in exchange for Slocumb. And while the exploits of Varitek and D-Lowe are well known in these parts (i.e. 2004 World Series Champs), Slocumb’s stay in Seattle was not nearly as successful. With the Captain’s contributions it’s hard to imagine him getting bumped from this lineup anytime soon.

1st Base – Doug Mientkiewicz. The man with the golden ball had a short stay in Boston, but it doesn’t get much sweeter than it did for Mientkiewicz. Traded to the Sox as part of the 4-team deal that signaled the end of the Nomar Era in Fenway, Mientkiewicz was the man that caught the ball that officially ended the championship drought that had lasted since 1918. Although Mientkiewicz didn’t swing a big stick and left town after the season, he was obtained to improve the team defense and he certainly did that. Nobody was having any “Bill Buckner replay” worries with Mientkiewicz over at first (well at least nobody should have been worried). He was acquired to help bring a title to Boston and he did just that. That isn’t just good enough for a World Series ring and a souvenir baseball; it is good enough for a spot on this team as well.

2nd Base – Mike Lansing. Is Tony Graffanino going to own this position a year from now? Yes, perhaps, but for now Lansing is still the man at second base. Mike Lansing was not a great player, and by all accounts he wasn’t the most pleasant person either, so this speaks more to the competition than the man himself. When the Sox are shopping at the trade deadline it is usually for pitching or power hitting help, not normally for somebody to step in at second base. Lansing came over from Colorado on July 27, 2000 in a 7-player deal. Over the remainder of the 2000 season he hit .194 with 0 homers and 13 RBI over 49 games (though, on the positive side, he didn’t make a single error at second base in 179 chances). He followed that up with another less-than-stellar season in 2001, hitting .250 with 8 homers and 34 RBI in 106 games. So how does Lansing make this team? As stated, lack of competition was the main factor, but Lansing also represents one of my favorite Red Sox trade deadline deals ever. Although the Sox didn’t get much out of it (Lansing and Rolando Arrojo), they managed to get rid of my three least favorite players on the team at once: Jeff Frye, Brian Rose and John Wasdin. For those of you who weren’t paying attention back then, this would be the equivalent of Kevin Millar, John Halama and Keith Foulke getting packaged for somebody this year. Even if the player Boston got in return was a .190 hitting jerk I’d still have to like him at least a little.

3rd Base – Ed Sprague. Ed Sprague stunk for the Sox. How else to describe a player who was acquired in 2000 to add some right-handed hitting power to the Boston lineup and ended up hitting .216 with 2 home runs over his 33 games as a member of the Red Sox? He was absolutely useless. Unfortunately Sprague is literally the only third baseman that Boston has traded for at the deadline over the past 20 years, so he makes the team by default until they trade for another one.

Shortstop – Orlando Cabrera. He may not have had the power at the plate of the man he was replacing, Nomar Garciaparra, but he does have one more World Series ring. The OC was adequate at the plate, but absolutely flawless in the field, becoming the steadying force in the middle of the infield for the eventual 2004 World Champions. The OC was also outstanding at coming up with high-five routines, seeming to have a separate celebration with each teammate (yes, that does earn bonus points here). After not committing a single error in the Red Sox 17 playoffs games during their run to the title last year, Cabrera’s glove was sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame to celebrate his outstanding achievement, and The OC himself was sent to the starting lineup (replacing Spike Owen) on this team.

Leftfield – Dave Roberts. Former Red Sox farmhand Henri Stanley is going to have to have one heck of a career in order for anyone to regret Boston dealing him away for Dave Roberts last July 31. Although the Nomar-deal that brought the Sox Mientkiewicz and Cabrera obviously got most of the attention that day, if not for the man responsible for “The Steal” none of the three would likely be wearing World Series rings today. Roberts batted only .256 in 86 regular season at bats with Boston. He then did not get a single at bat in the post season. Any guesses how many post-season steals Roberts had? One. That’s right, only one. That one steal however, “The Steal”, earned him a place in Red Sox history and a place in the outfield on this team (and if the Sox ever acquire a better leftfielder at the deadline I’m going to create a pinch-runner position to keep DR around).

Centerfield – Dave Henderson. The man known as Hendu was the one person on this team actually acquired after the trading deadline had already passed. He was obtained (along with Spike Owen) from Seattle in August of 1986 for Rey Quinones and three “players to be named later”. Hendu ended up providing me (and many other Sox fans of my generation) with the greatest pre-2004 Red Sox moment I ever witnessed. Hendu’s stay in Boston was short (111 games) but his impact was great. His Game 5 home run off of Donnie Moore in the 1986 ALCS remains my favorite non-2004 Sox moment to this day. Obviously a player with a flair for the dramatics, Henderson went on to hit .400 in the World Series that year with two more home runs, including what would have been the game winning (and World Series winning) homer to lead off the 10th inning of Game 6 (before Buckner happened).

Rightfield – Cliff Floyd. The Red Sox shipped two pitching prospects for Floyd in 2002 in the hopes he would give Manny some protection in the lineup (remember, this was pre-Papi). Many view Floyd’s time in Boston as a failure, but that was simply not the case. His detractors point to two issues: 1) The Sox failed to make the playoffs, and 2) Floyd managed only 18 RBI in his 47 games with Boston. However, Floyd cannot be blamed for a starting rotation that featured John Burkett, Rolando Arrojo and Frank Castillo. Floyd’s offensive numbers speak for themselves: .171 at bats, 28 extra base hits (including 7 homers), .316 average, .374 on-base percentage and .561 slugging percentage. The Sox traded for Floyd to help them get to the post-season and he certainly did his part…they just forgot to get a starting pitcher while they were at it. Cliff can’t be blamed for that.

Designated Hitter – Mike Stanley. After trading him away during the 1997 season, the Sox traded to get Stanley back at the trade deadline of 1998, which is how he earned his spot on this team. In ’98 Stanley combined with Reggie Jefferson to form a potent righty/lefty combination from the DH position and helped the Sox reach the playoffs as the AL Wild Card winner. In limited at bats he managed to hit 7 home runs drive in 32 runs. Then in ‘99, Stanley’s last full season as a member of the Red Sox, he played a key part in their run to the ALCS. After hitting .281 with 19 home runs in the regular season, Stanley caught fire in the playoffs and batted .500 (10 for 20) as Boston eliminated Cleveland in the ALDS before eventually falling to the Yanks in the Final Four.

Starting Pitcher – Mike Boddicker. This team is not judging the value of the trade that brought the player to Boston, only the production of the player that came. In 1988 when the Red Sox were trying to win the AL East and in desperate need of a number two starter to compliment Roger Clemens, GM Lou Gorman pulled the trigger on the deal that brought Boddicker to Boston. In exchange for a rookie outfielder who was hitting .230 with no home runs at the time, and a minor league pitcher who wouldn’t be an effective major leaguer for at least half a decade, the Boston Red Sox acquired the hottest starter on the open market: Mike Boddicker. Boddicker certainly did not disappoint, going 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA over the stretch run and helping the Sox win the AL East. In 1990 Boddicker again played a huge part in Boston’s division title, going 17-8 with a 3.36 ERA. After the 1988 season Sports Illustrated’s Peter Gammons called the Boddicker-to-Boston trade the “Deal of the Season”. It wasn’t known at that time that the rookie outfielder with no homers would “somehow” (wink, wink) blossom into Brady Anderson (a 50 home run hitter in 1996), or that the minor league pitcher would become Curt Schilling. Hindsight is always 20/20, but Boddicker did exactly what Boston wanted him to, helping them to win not just one, but two division titles. That is good enough to make him my starter on this team.

Relief Pitcher – Ugueth Urbina. The job of closer had me more torn than possibly any other; it came down to Urbina vs. Aguilera. The Sox traded for Urbina from the Montreal Expos in 2001 and he remained in Boston through the end of the 2002 season. He ended up compiling 49 saves and a 2.81 ERA in his one-plus seasons in Boston. He was also named as a member of the ’02 AL All-Star team. Although the Sox failed to make it to post-season play with Urbina, the “closer by committee” experiment to begin the ’03 season (after the Sox had chosen not to re-sign him) proved the Sox were better off with Ugi than without him. Although the Sox did make the ’95 playoffs after trading for Aguilera, and he was solid in the closer’s role down the stretch that season he had a few things working against him. Aguilera re-signed with Minnesota (the team he came from) after the season, and he got a loss in his only playoff appearance. Furthermore, Rick Aguilera was the winning pitcher of Game 6 in the 1986 World Series. When in doubt I think going against the winning pitcher of “The Buckner Game” is a good idea.

Next season there may be a new name or two on this team. Since this time last year there were three men (Mientkiewicz, Cabrera and Roberts) who were traded to Boston, won a World Series, left Boston, and were named to DK’s Red Sox “All-Time Trade Deadline Team”. So needless to say, a lot can happen in the course of a year.

Who will be next year’s additions to the team? Will it be already acquired Tony Graffanino? Or will the Sox trade for somebody else like AJ Burnett, JC Romero, or Billy Wagner? Very soon, perhaps even as you read this article, these answers could be becoming clear.