When Ben Cherington ascended to the position of GM of the Red Sox, he made sure to call attention to his own deliberate style, noting that he tends to gather as much information as possible and not rush into decisions.
I’ll admit, I’ve had my moments where I felt that this quality of my NH homeboy would work against him when it came to being able to pull off big deals.
With his historic blockbuster deal today, Cherington has made it clear that he is capable of thinking and performing big. In one move, he was able to hit a giant reset button and do what many thought impossible – find someone to take Josh Beckett, and clear out the enormous salaries of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, while still getting something in return.
That someone was the Los Angeles Dodgers, who, with new ownership, are looking to make a big slash. They’ve wanted Gonzalez, a Southern California native who had his best years down the road in San Diego, and to get him, they were willing to take on the contracts of Beckett and Crawford.
Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston was in the lead on this story:
Blockbuster: red Sox, Dodgers working on deal that would send AGon, Crawford, Beckett and Punto to LA. Hurdles remain, but closing in
— Gordon Edes (@GordonEdes) August 24, 2012
However, in a column that sure seems prophetic, Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times pretty much proposed this deal on Thursday morning:
Directing the dream of Adrian Gonzalez to the Dodgers
While Larry Lucchino was heavily involved in this deal, working extensively with his Dodgers counterpart Stan Kasten, this deal belongs to Cherington, who in one swoop corrected a number of organizational mistakes, removed a lightning rod from the clubhouse, and put the team in a position to be able to build the team he wants going forward.
His press conference announcing the deal showed a confident Cherington, who had the answers, and was eager to start the process of building the team he wants to build.
The offseason has begun for the Red Sox. I wasn’t crazy with the idea of dumping Gonzalez, but I’m not overly broken up over his departure either. While he was terrific last season, and showed signs of late of rounding into form, (he also hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat with the Dodgers tonight.) he just never quite captured the affection of the fans as much as we hoped.
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On a completely unrelated note, I felt really, really bad for Don Criqui last night. At 72, he’s still got the voice, but just cannot keep up with the action, and keep his facts straight. I lost track of the player misidentifications, the errors (Nate Ebner was not a “free agent” from Ohio State.) and just general confusion that was on display in that telecast last night.
It’s time for the Krafts to make a move on their preseason telecasts.
