Empyreal Environs

The first move since Theo Epstein returned was a big one, indeed. In matching wits with the impressive Mark Shapiro, the Boston/Cleveland deal changed somewhat from what was originally announced.

Boston gets:

• Josh Bard, C
• Covelli “Coco” Loyce Crisp, CF
• David Riske, RHP

Cleveland gets:

• Andy Marte, 3B
• Guillermo Mota, RHP
• Kelly Shoppach, C
• A player to be named later
• $1M

The red items indicate details that were not mentioned prior to Mota’s physical. See what raising a few qualms over a player’s condition can do for you? Shapiro is on his way to mastering the art of using a big market team like an ATM, as Billy Beane advocated in Moneyball. And the Red Sox, perhaps feeling the pressure brush away the insinuations of its front office’s dysfunction, acquiesced to Cleveland’s additional demands. It could have been worse for the Red Sox, as Manny Delcarmen’s name was thrown into the mix at one point.

More impressive, Shapiro lined up his transactions so that he could have another center fielder waiting in the wings if he had to relinquish Crisp. Reliever Arthur Rhodes passed his physical yesterday, so he went to Philadelphia in exchange for Jason Michaels.

It is this type of planning and foresight I would expect from an organization that claims it wants to be more like its intrastate brethren, the Patriots. The Red Sox might be able to plug media leaks, but if all they are doing is keeping mum on unfavorable deals as they are being finalized, they’ll still have some explaining to do.