Red Sox – Dodgers Blockbuster Deal – Beckett, Gonzlalez, Crawford Head West

Red Sox – Dodgers Complete 9 Player Mega-Deal

The Dodgers and Red Sox have completed a deal that sends Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to Los Angeles for first baseman James Loney as well as prospects Allen Webster, Rubby De La Rosa, Ivan De Jesus and Jerry Sands.  Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, the nine-player blockbuster trade between the Red Sox and Dodgers is complete.

While the Dodgers are getting the veteran players in the deal, Boston received mainly Dodgers prospects and financial flexibility in return. By adding Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett, the Dodgers would add $261 million in remaining salaries to their payroll.

The Red Sox are essentially out of the playoff race for the first time since 2009 , and have begun a retooling of the team now rather than wait for the off season and the Dodgers aggressiveness played a role in speeding up the process.

According to multiple sources, the two teams were in the process of reviewing medical information of those involved in the deal and apparently have signed off on the trade. Gonzalez was a late scratch from the Red Sox lineup, as was Loney in the Dodgers lineup, a strong indication that a deal was imminent.

The Dodgers new ownership group has now made trades to acquire Hanley Ramirez, Randy Choate,Brandon League, Shane Victorino, and Joe Blanton and with it over $300MM in future payroll obligations.

Beckett, a 10-and-5 player, had the right to refuse to go to L.A., but according to  Nick Cafardo “Indications are he will”

Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine seemed unfazed by all the speculation initially, “I talked to Ben this afternoon and there was no mention — at all,” Valentine said. “There wasn’t a mention of ‘who do you want?’ There wasn’t any conversation, so I believe it’s nothing more than the standard operational of a guy gets claimed, it’s a block, it’s not a trade and life goes on.”

The 22-year-old Webster, an 18th round pick out of high school in 2008, was rated the 95th overall prospect by Baseball America before the 2012 season. Webster is 6-8 with a 3.55 ERA and a 117/57 K/BB ratio in 121 2/3 innings for Double-A Chattanooga this season.

De La Rosa underwent Tommy John surgery last August and returned to the Dodgers this week and he was sent back to the minors today. Loney his hitting  .254/.403/.344 in 334 at-bats this season, and will be a free agent at the end of this season.