Red Sox acquire Victor Martinez, trade LaRoche to Braves

In need of a bat, the Boston Red Sox traded for one, Cleveland Indians first baseman and catcher Victor Martinez.

The Boston Red Sox offense has been woeful of late. So bad, in fact, that the front office had little faith that their current lineup could right the ship and succeed for the remainder of the season. So, as the clock ticked down towards the trade deadline, Boston made a aggressive move, one that I am very excited about, and one that could change their fortunes for the better.

They traded 24-year old reliever Justin Masterson, and two pitching prospects, Nick Hagadone, ranked third in their minor league system, and Bryan Price to the Cleveland Indians. Who did the Red Sox receive? Indians first baseman and catcher Victor Martinez, the power bat they were looking for.

Martinez, 30, had been Cleveland’s best hitter this season, hitting .284 with 15 home-runs, 67 rbi’s, and a respectable .368 on-base percentage. In years past, Martinez expressed his desire to spend the rest of his career in Cleveland, but though he fought back tears upon hearing of the trade, I am sure he’ll be ecstatic to join a contending team for the stretch run. His contract is up after this season, but with Jason Varitek in steep decline and question marks regarding the future of third baseman Mike Lowell, there is no reason why Boston shouldn’t ante up and re-sign him. They better, because otherwise they gave up a pretty penny for a rent-a-player.

Extension or no extension, this is a great move for the Red Sox. Aside from the recent play of Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, Boston’s offense has been in a prolonged slump, with the heart of their order, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay, and David Ortiz particularly having a rough time at the plate. Martinez will give them instant power and, perhaps more importantly, a solid all-around hitter whose batting average consistently hovers around .290.

By acquiring Martinez, they now have plenty of options: they can either start him at first base, moving Youkilis over to third and Mike Lowell to the bench, start him at catcher to put Varitek on the bench, or start him as the designated hitter to give Ortiz some rest. There are plenty of things they can do because of his versatility, but they didn’t acquire him to platoon, so someone will see their playing time decrease. Yet, with that said, manager Terry Francona has done an extraordinary job in the past of spreading the wealth, so I expect either Lowell, Ortiz or Varitek will still get their fair share of at-bats.

Boston didn’t exactly make room for Martinez. They traded first baseman Adam LaRoche, whom they acquired a little over a week ago, to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for their first baseman, Casey Kotchman. So, in essense, they just upgraded from LaRoche with Kotchman, a slick-fielder with a satisfactory bat who will be slotted in as their backup first-baseman. Both Martinez and Kotchman should give Boston a boost, but I don’t envy Francona, who now has numerous, perhaps too many, lineup options at his disposal.

The biggest thing about the Martinez trade for Boston is that they acquired him without trading away 24-year old Clay Buchholz or hard-throwing 24-year old reliever Daniel Bard. Since they didn’t include Buchholz or Bard, the Red Sox still have plenty of pitching depth.

Without trading for Martinez or any big bat, for that matter, the Red Sox would have been hard-pressed to challenge the American League-East leading New York Yankees for the division crown. Now they can.

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