Helton Trade

Now that I have recovered from my AFC Championship Game hangover, I'm ready to jump into the Red Sox full blast. Actually, it was news on the Red Sox that got me over the Patriots crushing 38-34 loss to the Colts. On Saturday morning, word was starting to spread that the Sox were in talks with the Colorado Rockies for potential Hall-of-Fame first baseman Todd Helton. Usually such news is not really news, trade rumors often fly around, especially with Spring Training only weeks away. But the Helton-to-Boston rumor seemed to have some truth to it. Even Colorado's owner admitted to the talks. The price for Helton was reported to be third baseman Mike Lowell and pitchers Julian Tavarez, Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen, plus the Red Sox would have to assume a large portion of the $90.1-million owed to the 33-year-old first baseman over the next six years. The Sox did not want to part with either Delcarmen or Hansen so as of yesterday, the deal was off the table. However, as ESPN's Buster Olney wrote in his daily insider baseball blog this morning, don't think the deal is dead -- even if the owners of both teams say it is. This sort of thing often happens in baseball ... there is talk of a mega-trade and when it isn't immediately consumated, the talks are "ended," only to resume in the future. Olney mentions Junior Griffey's trade from the Mariners to the Reds and Roger Clemens' trade from the Blue Jays to the Yankees as examples. This trade makes sense for both teams. For the Red Sox they add another powerful bat to their already impressive lineup and this is a bat that prescribes to their organizational theory of working pitchers and getting on base. Even with dwindling power numbers (mostly thanks to injuries and playing for a sub-par team), Helton's skills would flourish in the Boston lineup. And from the Rockies point of view, they need to unload Helton's massive contract to try and build a winner at Coors Field. If this trade is brought up again, expect the Sox to part with Lowell, Tavarez, and Delcarmen as well as assuming roughly $50-million of Helton's remaining contract. That would give Boston a lineup looking a lot like this: SS - Julio Lugo RF - JD Drew DH - David Ortiz LF - Manny Ramirez 1B - Todd Helton C - Jason Varitek 3B - Kevin Youkilis CF - Coco Crisp 2B - Dustin Pedroia Along with the solid pitching staff the Sox have built, that would be a team in serious contention to win a World Series.