Red Sox send Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Nick Punto for James Loney, 4 prospects
2012 was quite a mess in Boston. The Red Sox were out of contention in the AL East and were haunted by multiple bad contracts. The Dodgers were enticed by the idea of receiving all star’s Gonzalez and Beckett in exchange for Crawford’s bad contract.
Rubby De La Rosa headlined the prospects heading to Boston , along with Allen Webster and Jerry Sands. The Red Sox plan was to clear cap space in 2012, in hopes of improvement in 2013.
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De La Rosa never amounted to anything in Boston and was packaged with Webster in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, acquiring Wade Miley. Neither prospect has amounted to much; however De La Rosa is the only prospect on a big league roster.
Adrian Gonzalez went on to have a fantastic career in Los Angeles, Josh Beckett retired shortly after. Crawford and Punto proved to be “throw ins” in the deal. Beckett did deliver a no-hitter, but outside of Gonzalez, the Dodgers did not receive much production.
This deal was actually a huge win for the Sox. Bobby Valentine was fired, in favor of John Farrell, and Ben Cherington signed veteran free agents to fill gaps.
As we know, the Red Sox went from worst to first, winning the 2013 World Series.
This is quite possibly the biggest August deal of all time; however, it is not the most notable, or important, in Red Sox history.