Boston Red Sox: Top 5 offseason moves in franchise history
Looking back on more exciting times during a tedious offseason for Boston Red Sox fans, we look at the five best offseason moves in franchise history.
Offseasons usually come and go with their fair share of shocking signings, minor acquisitions, and players trading one uniform for another. However, this winter has been slower than usual. The Boston Red Sox plan heading into free agency was constructed around thirty-year-old slugger J.D. Martinez, who remains yet to sign with a few weeks left before Spring Training.
The Red Sox have become one of the league’s biggest spenders in the past few years. Notable transactions include the signings of David Price, Hanley Ramirez, and, of course, Pablo Sandoval. Recent offseasons have also seen a handful of trades, bringing players such as Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel into Boston.
Some winter moves play out exactly as they did in the Front Office’s dreams, while others end with a $250 million firesale in June. Here are some of the top offseason trades and signings in Red Sox history.
To Marlins: SS Hanley Ramirez, RHP Anibal Sanchez, RHP Harvey Garcia, RHP Jesus Delgado
To Red Sox: RHP Josh Beckett, 3B Mike Lowell, RHP Guillermo Mota
Coming in at number five in this brief countdown of historic Red Sox offseason moves is the 2005 acquisition of Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell.
Beckett was a rising ace on the Florida Marlins in the four full seasons he spent with the team. He delivered the best pitching performance in Marlins history in Game 6 of the 2003 World Series, scattering five hits over a complete game to give the franchise its second championship. His iconic complete game off of three days rest eliminated the Yankees after the 2003 ALC… actually, we won’t talk about that.
Veteran third baseman Mike Lowell was a proven consistent hitter and excellent fielder. Lowell posted three All-Star Game selections as a Marlin, winning a Gold Glove Award in 2005. The Red Sox knew exactly what they were receiving in Lowell, and he delivered in his five year Boston career.
This trade, which came on the heels of a second-place 2005 finish, was a move that showed Red Sox fans that the team was not slowing down after the 2004 Championship. Lowell and Beckett were, arguably, the two best players on the team in the 2007 World Series run, culminating with Lowell being named World Series MVP. Beckett allowed just four runs over four starts in the 2007 postseason, taking home ALCS MVP honors.
Anibal Sanchez was the only loss as far as the players Boston sent south. Harvey Garcia and Jesus Delgado pitched in a combined 10 games for Florida. A budding prospect at the time, Hanley is now back home on a monster free-agent deal.
The Beckett-Lowell trade was a terrific deal that lead directly to another World Series title. The Sox suffered practically no losses from their major league roster in this deal, making it good for the fifth best Red Sox offseason move.
Three years after trading for Pedro Martinez, Boston was looking to build off of an 85-win 2000 season. According to Pedro’s book, Pedro, Manny Ramirez told Martinez he wanted to play in Boston next year. Pedro was shocked, but knew he had to make it happen.
Ramirez signed with the Red Sox in December of 2000 for $160 million over eight years. He became baseball’s second $20 million player. Sox fans could never have foreseen what would transpire over the next seven years, but Ramirez’s signing after a mediocre season was the beginning of a new era of Boston baseball.
Ramirez was a prolific power from 1998-2008. In that run, he rewrote the history of the Boston Red Sox with David Ortiz and company. His eleven-year prime saw eight consecutive top ten MVP finishes. In his eight years with the Red Sox, Manny added six consecutive Silver Slugger awards to his trophy case in addition to being voted an All-Star every season. Manny and Papi became one of the best dynamic duos of all time. Plus, he gifted us with an iconic photo.
Manny earned 93 Hall of Fame votes in his second year on the ballot, good for 22 percent of the vote. Although his time with the Red Sox came to somewhat of a bitter end and his character was beyond erratic, he cracked off one of the best eleven-year runs the game has ever seen. It was all Manny being Manny, and as fans, we can either look back and embrace or reject it. I choose to embrace it all, especially the two championships. He deserves a spot in Cooperstown.
To Arizona: LHP Casey Fossum, RHP Brandon Lyon, LHP Jorge de la Rosa, OF Michael Goss
To Boston: RHP Curt Schilling
Curt Schilling waived his no-trade clause for one reason. He accepted a trade to Boston for the sole purpose of delivering a championship, and deliver he did.
The 216-game winner came to the Sox at the tail-end of his career. At 37, there were questions about how much gas he had left in the tank after deep playoff runs with Arizona and lost seasons in Philadelphia. In spite of his age, Schilling finally gave the Red Sox a frightening counter-punch to Pedro Martinez.
It is tough to aptly summarize what Schilling’s bloody sock performance represented and meant to Red Sox fans. That outing alone would have made any cost of the trade worthwhile. That’s not to mention what Schill did in the 2004 regular season. He fired 226.2 innings over 32 starts with a nearly perfect 21-6 record. Schilling is one of the best postseason pitchers ever, living by his “whatever it takes” motto. His career postseason marks include a 2.23 ERA and a sub-one WHIP, plus he boasts an 11-2 record.
Fossum and Lyon bounced around the bigs for years, and Goss never cracked an MLB roster. Jorge de la Rosa is still a useful reliever for the Diamondbacks after a long stint in Colorado.
In short, this was another move that lead directly to the 2004 Championship for the Red Sox. Though events after Schilling’s career may keep him out of the Hall, there is no denying his impact on the Sox. All of the transactions on this list contributed in a major way to the two titles in ’04 and ’07, making them not only the best offseason moves in franchise history but also the most important.
To Montreal: RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Tony Armas
To Boston: RHP Pedro Martinez
There was never, and will never be anyone like Pedro. When he pitched, the atmosphere at Fenway Park was comparable to a rock concert. Pedro pitched like his life depended on every strike, and never backed down.
This 1997 trade was the most important trade in franchise history. Martinez was there in ’04, but it was what he did before that makes this the best offseason trade. Pedro was the bedrock of the 2004 team, the guy who knew Boston best. He was the man who put everything into motion. Without him, Boston baseball would still be stuck in the 20th century.
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The numbers speak for themselves with Pedro. Martinez is one of ten to ever win three or more Cy Young Awards, two of which came in back to back seasons with the Sox. In 1999, he fired off ten straight games with at least ten strikeouts. He never lost more than nine games in a season in his seven seasons with the Red Sox, compiling a 117-37 record and posting an absurd 10.9 K/9 figure.
Pedro had plenty of iconic Red Sox moments as well. Though he was winding down during the 2004 campaign, his fiery on-field personality and goofy off-field character were everpresent. Oh, and we also have him to thank for Big Papi falling into our laps.
On a topical note, Pedro’s numbers against Chipper Jones are ridiculous. The recently elected first-ballot Hall of Famer garnered 97 percent of the vote. However, Martinez limited Jones to 10 hits in 49 at-bats.
That’s Pedro.
The best offseason move in Red Sox history is, undoubtedly, signing David Ortiz. This is the only move that could top trading for Pedro. After the Minnesota Twins released him in December of 2002, Martinez came to the rescue with another tip for the Red Sox Front Office. He urged the team to sign his good friend and free agent Ortiz, and the rest is history.
Big Papi became the perfect compliment to Manny. The Dynamic Duo terrorized baseball for years to come. Ortiz finally had an opportunity to unleash the frustration built up from struggling in Minnesota, and he emerged as one of baseball’s best power hitters. He finished in the top five of MVP voting every year from 2003-2007, racking up four consecutive silver slugger awards.
Every time there were questions about his durability, he rebounded and recaptured peak form. Big Papi became the face of the new, successful Red Sox, the only player to be on all three championship teams. The 2013 season began with his famous speech and ended with one of the best individual World Series performances ever. Ortiz had one of the best farewell seasons ever, and although Red Sox Nation has been praying for a Papi comeback, he has stayed true to his retirement.
Next: Looking back at Red Sox first-round draft choices
Signing Ortiz resulted in an all-time Red Sox great. There are few, if any free agent signings that teams can say that about.