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The massive trade just pulled off by Boston Red Sox management is a sign to all of Major League Baseball and their fans that this team is in transition.

In just about 24 hours, Magic Johnson somehow became more popular in Boston than Larry Bird.

Fans rejoiced, celebrations were had, grown men were brought to tears. The team shed some $250 million off its payroll, unloading Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and, the tipping point, Nick Punto to the L.A. Dodgers.

Sound the alarms, a fire sale may be in place.

That can be a very good thing for this franchise that has been tasting the venom of the fanbase for the entirety of the 2012 season. While there is no hope for postseason play in Boston this year, the franchise has restored hope and faith in the organization once again.

The next step now is to continue growing and developing the farm system, more so the prospects they’ve just acquired from Los Angeles. In the interim, the Red Sox will need to make some moves in the winter. If you think this slideshow is going to call for a Josh Hamilton type of signing, you’ll be more disappointed than Peter Griffin at an O’Doul’s brewery. 

Here are five realistic signings the Red Sox should make with their newly inflated purse.

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For baseball fans, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

The playoff landscape is starting to truly take shape. Teams have been identified as legitimate contenders. Still, others try to grasp at straws, retaining their grip on the pretense that they could make the playoffs.

Some squads have risen to the challenge, while others have faulted, stumbled and paved their own way out of postseason play.

Here is a look at all 14 remaining contenders, with full odds of making the postseason. All percentages are based upon the rankings on coolstandings.com; prior to any of the day’s action.

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Back on February 23, 2012, Ryan Braun saw his 50-game suspension for testing positive for synthetic testosterone overturned.

Suddenly, he was acquitted and able to start the 2012 season on time.

The key word there is “acquitted.” An acquittal is not proof of innocence. In fact, it’s proof of nothing more than insufficient evidence to convict, nothing more.

This is a hard fact that looms over the head of Braun this season. He’s done his proclamations of innocence on numerous occasions, yet those words are falling on deaf ears.

Braun is having himself a fine season. That much is true. The problem is due to the discourse of events occurring after the conclusion of the 2011 season, his numbers are seemingly insignificant to most baseball fans outside of Milwaukee.

Sounds a lot like when Barry Bonds was chasing the home run record, does it not?

This season, Braun is tied for 11th in the National League with 128 hits. However, 32 of those hits are an NL best in home runs. His 77 runs scored are fifth in the league while his 81 RBI are tied for second with Matt Holliday, only two behind the league leader, Carlos Beltran’s 83.

In addition to his 32 dingers, Braun has added 21 doubles and two triples for a total of 55 extra-base hits.

That said, he leads the NL in isolated power (ISO) numbers as well, with a .285 average. This is a category he leads by no small margin: .19 points, which is just about double the largest gap (.10 points) through the rest of the ISO leader list.

Surprisingly, his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) has him ranked 23rd with a .323 average, especially considering his .301 AVG has him tied for 10th with David Freese.

Additionally, Braun’s .380 OBP ranks him ninth, however, his .586 SLG is third in the NL, second if you exclude a DL-stricken Joey Votto. His .966 OPS is second to only Andrew McCutchen.

Lastly, his 5.7 WAR is third among NL stars, behind David Wright’s 6.0 and McCutchen’s 6.4 respectively.

Clearly, Braun is a top-tier player in all of baseball, let alone the National League, yet writers and fans alike look at him quite differently this season.

In the course of just a few short months, he has gone from being a fan favorite to a player fans no longer trust.

Follow @THEChrisBenvie

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The 2012 Boston Red Sox are a charade upon themselves. 

Everything about this team is disingenuous and borderline alienating to its otherwise loyal fans. Ownership is biting the hand that feeds, expecting not to have any scars left behind.

Unfortunately, they’re tearing flesh. 

While attempting to lay on a full-blown PR campaign to try and save face for the franchise, using smoke and mirrors to try and distract the media and fans alike, John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner are taking the intelligence of, well, the City of Boston for granted. 

A quick show of hands: how many of you believe a word that John Henry wrote in his August 15^th email to the media, dispelling the Yahoo! Sports story written by Jeff Passan? 

Bueller? Bueller? 

Precisely. 

Even more compelling was Larry Lucchino’s appearance on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan Show the following morning. It was there that Lucchino tried to sweep the whole situation under the carpet. 

According to Lucchino, manager Bobby Valentine will unequivocally remain the Red Sox manager through the remainder of the 2012 season. 

Despite the fact that the players are obviously frustrated and rising up against their manager; that is only one issue this team is facing. Lucchino knows it just as well as you and I do. 

He stated that fans that called in to sports radio stations are not indicative of the true Red Sox fan base. 

That leaves one to wonder: what then would you call a fan that would take time out of their day to call a radio station and voice their opinion? This is Boston. These are the passionate fans that love their team. 

No, really, they LOVE their team. 

Perhaps they are not the same fans that buy the pink hats, buy bricks and buy the rhetoric the front office is selling. 

Following Lucchino’s performance in the parade of propaganda, Tom Werner appeared with Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo on the Thursday night NESN broadcast of the Red Sox game to further try and dispel any of the rumors surrounding the team. 

What this media frenzy by the brass has done recently only makes the team look foolish and desperate. 

No fan with half a brain is buying the “everything is fine internally” publicity push. 

Players, who previously shared adoration from fans, are coming across as petty, whiny and irreverent. Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz know just what that means. 

This team is terminally fractured, from its impervious front office to its surly players to whomever is leaking information to the media. 

From a situation that was somewhat repairable a few weeks back, it appears that the 2012 Boston Red Sox have reached the point where a blow-up is inevitable to change the course of the future for the franchise. 

The brass needs to give up on the façade that a sell-out streak is continuing. TV ratings are dropping and fans are both angry and revolting. 

Henry, Warner and Lucchino need to stop feeding the monster, also known as their collective egos, and start to do what is right for the future of this team. 

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President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”

Taking that a step further, Merriam Websters Dictionary defines the term “integrity” as a noun, meaning an unimpaired condition.

In an article published today by Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan, the unadorned captain of the Boston Red Sox came across as anything but an individual with integrity.

In fact, the excerpts surrounding Dustin Pedroia made him look downright childish.

There is no question that Pedroia was the member of the team that was most affected by the front office’s decision to move on from its previous manager Terry Francona.

Their friendship was no secret. 

In his 2008 book titled Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston’s Rise to Dominance, writer and local Boston radio host Michael Holley chronicled their relationship in great depth, citing how the duo would play cribbage before every game.

Francona made his affections towards Pedroia well-known.

Naturally the transition to a new manager not named Tito would be difficult for Pedroia. However, treating the new manager with little to no respect whatsoever is beyond insubordination.

It is childish and shameful.

No member of this Red Sox team should have a leg to stand on in regards to management. They’ve played awful baseball and don’t deserve any courtesies extended to them.

As a whole, they have not earned the right to complain about Bobby Valentine or any other circumstance in the clubhouse.

September 2011 has seemingly continued to thrive throughout the entire 2012 season. Yes, the chicken and beer have been removed from the clubhouse, but the immaturity and lack of accountability is still just as prevalent today as it was 11 months ago.

In Jeff Passan’s piece, he references a picture message that Pedroia took and shared with his teammates. He writes:

Pedroia, notorious among teammates for his wit and humor, is in the foreground with a giddy smile, his tongue wagging and both thumbs up. Next to him is allegedly Valentine, face down on a table, apparently asleep. A caption accompanies the picture: “Our manager contemplating his lineup at 3:30 p.m.”

This isn’t the first time Pedroia has shown a blatant disrespect for his new manager.

Back in April, whether called for or not, Pedroia went on the record to voice his displeasure with Valentine’s vocalizing his criticisms of Pedroia’s then teammate Kevin Youkilis.

It was first Tweeted by NESN’s Tom Caron:

 

Pedroia on Valentine’s Youk comments: “I don’t know what Bobby’s trying to do. But that’s not how we go about our stuffhere.” #RedSox

— Tom Caron (@TomCaron) April 16, 2012

 

Instead of all this madness surrounding Bobby Valentine, the players, led by Dustin Pedroia should concentrate on the game itself.

When asked by CSNNE’s Joe Haggarty about this whole situation, Pedroia skirted the question:

 

Asked Dustin Pedroia if he led any Sox player meeting to get Bobby V fired. He just said: “I just want to play baseball, man” #RedSoxTalk

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) August 14, 2012

 

Dodge, dip, dive, duck and dodge… seems about right.

For the masses who felt that Pedroia should be anointed the next captain of the Red Sox, this irresponsible conduct should serve as a pretty significant notice that he is not captain material.

Sure, he is a prolific second baseman.

That doesn’t make him a leader. Leaders have integrity. What part of anything Pedroia has done this season offers evidence of his integrity?

The prosecution rests.

Follow @THEChrisBenvie

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An injection of youth has come at just the right time for the otherwise stagnant Baltimore Orioles.

The team is already one of the great stories of the year, making a tremendous turnaround from its 20…well, from its roughly 15-year stretch of disappointing seasons.

In 2011, the club finished 69-93, last in the American League East. In fact, they’ve finished in the basement for five straight seasons and have not placed higher than fourth since 2004, when they finished third.

The last true glorious season for the Orioles was 1997. They finished first in the AL East, but lost the ALCS 4-2 against the Cleveland Indians.

This year, things are different.

The O’s are in second place in the AL East with a record of 61-52, 5.5 games behind the New York Yankees. And the reality is, nobody is catching the Yanks in the AL East this season.

More than that, though, the Orioles find themselves leading the extremely tight wild-card race. They share the same record with Detroit (who owns the other wild card slot) and are just 0.5 games up on Oakland and Tampa Bay and just 1.0 game up on the Angels.

The O’s needed a boost.

Boost, thy name is Manny Machado.

Though he has only played in his first two games for the Orioles, the 20-year-old third baseman is already having an impact on the field and invigorating the fanbase.

In his eight at-bats Machado is 4-for-8 with a triple, two home runs and four RBI. That’s a smooth 1.500 slugging percentage.

His two home runs came last night against the Kansas City Royals. For those keeping score at home, at 20 years and 35 days old, that makes Machado the youngest Oriole ever to have a two-home-run game, breaking the previous mark set by Boog Powell at 20 years and 258 days old.

The reality is, the numbers will obviously fall to earth. But the level of excitement this kid has brought the Orioles is just what the team needed.

Many considered them to be playoff pretenders, but with this youthful injection from Machado, perhaps they could be legitimate contenders. At the very least, they could certainly play the role of spoiler thanks in large part to their rookie sensation.

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Going into Tuesday’s action, the Oakland A’s have found themselves losers of their last three games and six of their last 10.

They’re trending downwards at the wrong time of the season.

In what has been a surprising season to say the least, Oakland sits 5.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the lead in the American League West and just a half game out of Wild Card contention.

Of course, yesterday they owned one of those Wild Card playoff berths.

So it goes in Major League Baseball.

Over the last 30 days, rookie Yoenis Cespedes has been the only player on the team to have been performing at an impressive level.

In his last 23 games and 85 at-bats, Cespedes is batting .412 with five home runs and 19 RBI.

Josh Reddick, the man who started the season on fire for the A’s has cooled off significantly. 

Before the All-Star break, Reddick owned a .268/.348/.532/.880 batting line with 20 home runs, 43 RBI, and 15 doubles and four triples.

Through his first 83 games and 314 at-bats, he managed 84 hits while scoring 52 runs. In essence, he was the MVP of the A’s.

Since the All-Star Break, it has been a completely different story.

Reddick has just a .226/.263/.441/.703 batting line. In 23 games and 93 at-bats he has managed 21 hits with six doubles, a triple and four home runs with 13 RBI.

While the bat is willing, he’s just not able to get on base.

The pitching on the other hand has a debt of gratitude to pay towards A.J. Griffin, the only pitcher with three wins in the past 30 days (and five starts) for the A’s.

Only Bartolo Colon has a better ERA (2.70 versus 2.25) over the last 30 days. Colon, however, is 2-1 in his last five starts.

Both Tommy Milone and Jarrod Parker have ERAs north of 5.00 in the past 30 days of baseball.

What’s more, closer Ryan Cook has only converted three of his last seven save opportunities.

Objectively, the A’s appear to be playing some pretty fractured baseball. They are giving away their shot to play late into October.

With two games left against the Angels before heading to Chicago for a series with the White Sox, the next five games will certainly serve as a measuring stick for the A’s, answering the question, “Are they a legitimate playoff team?” for certain.

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The 2012 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone with the usual flurry of activity taking place, shaking up the landscape of baseball.

With the addition of the second Wild Card this season, it appeared that several teams appeared gun shy at times, afraid to make any earth-rattling moves. Instead, there were several small moves with a couple of blockbusters sprinkled in.

Now that the dust has settled it is time to re-examine and re-rank all 30 MLB pitching rotations as we inch closer to the playoffs.

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Like a moth drawn into a flame, fans of the Boston Red Sox were drawn in by the cunning proclamations made by team president Larry Lucchino that general manager Ben Cherington would be able to make “bold moves” at the trading deadline.

3:59 pm: nothing.

4:00 pm: nothing.

Oh sure, the Red Sox did make two moves today, neither of which can be classified as bold, that’s for sure.

For example, WEEI.com’s Alex Speier reported the first move that came through was a trade that sent pitcher Matt Albers and outfielder Scott Podsednik to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for left-handed pitcher Craig Breslow.

Breslow will be returning for his second stint with the Red Sox, as he played in Boston in 2006-2007.

In 40 games for the D’backs, he owns a 2-0 record with a 2.70 ERA and 1.177 WHIP in 43.1 innings of work on the season. Additionally he owns a 8.7 K/9 ratio, which really, other than being a lefty, is the only upgrade over Albers.

The second move, also reported by WEEI‘s Alex Speier, was one that saw the team send triple-A first baseman Lars Anderson to the Cleveland Indians; not for Justin Masterson, which would have been a pleasant surprise, but for double-A knuckleballer Steven Wright.

Through 20 starts in the Eastern League, Wright is 9-6 with a 2.70 ERA and a 1.280 WHIP for Akron.

Through 115.2 innings of service, the 27-year-old righty has 101 strikeouts and 62 walks with opposing batters hitting just .207 against him. 

While the pulse of the fanbase certainly suggested the team should either sell big or sign big, the brass did neither and decided to stand firm with the team in which they’ve already built.

What does that mean for the team moving forward?

Realistically speaking, the division race is all but over. Give the New York Yankees the pennant now, they’ve earned it.

That said, the Red Sox are still four games out of the second wild-card berth.

Your starting left fielder, Carl Crawford, is fighting through injuries to take the field every day. The team needs to just shut him down at this point and allow for him to get the Tommy John surgery he has been hinting towards this season.

Allow for an infusion of youth to take the field. With Ryan Sweeney out on the disabled list after punching a door and injuring his hand on Monday night, the team will have Ryan Kalish playing in his place.

A better idea would be to have Kalish play in place of Crawford and put Cody Ross in right.

Rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks has seemingly found his swing again, going yard Monday night against the Detroit Tigers. His bat will be needed, especially while DH David Ortiz still sits on the sidelines.

It was nice to see Dustin Pedroia find his power as well. Pedey had his “La Luna” shot, as he prefers it to be called, when he also homered against the Tigers.

Adrian Gonzalez has been the best hitter in baseball over the past 28 days. He has batted .392/.410/.548/.957 in his last 20 games. He’s added four home runs and 19 RBI, which, doing the math, puts him back to being the 30-home run, 100-plus RBI-caliber player the Red Sox thought he could be.

True, the shortstop position has been one of inconsistency. However, offensively that has been borderline irrelevant for the team.

The true question marks for the Boston Red Sox come down to just two names: Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

Historically, in the months of August, September and finishing off the regular season in October, Josh Beckett owns a .564 winning percentage, which equates to a 44-34 career record.

As for Jon Lester, his figures are actually much better. He owns a .695 winning percentage in those months with a career record of 30-13.

If the two pitchers can combine to win half of their remaining starts, the team has a shot. This is something that has eluded the duo thus far in 2012.

Combined, they own a 10-17 record with a .371 winning percentage. If the tandem could have mustered just a slightly higher winning percentage, the Red Sox might even own the wild-card lead right now.

So Red Sox fans, that is where the team stands right now. Ask yourself, are you happy with the direction they’re taking?

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It has been 20 long years since the Pittsburgh Pirates played .500 or better baseball this late in the season.

Barry Bonds was their star player. Jim Leyland was the manager. The Bucs would go on to lose the NLCS in seven games to the Atlanta Braves.

Why bring it up now?

For the first time in a very long time, the Pirates have a team both worthy and capable of post-season play behind the solid leadership of NL MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen.

Bonds had Andy Van Slyke batting before him and Jeff King after him. Neither the former nor the latter player will be enshrined in Cooperstown any time soon.

For all the criticism received by Bonds for not showing up in the playoffs or pressure situations while in Pittsburgh, Pirate fans don’t need to see if the same would be the case for McCutchen.

With the Cincinnati Reds losing their MVP, Joey Votto, for several weeks to undergo knee surgery, now is the time for the Pirates to take control of the NL Central.

Pirates General manager Neil Huntington needs to open the channels of communication with the Arizona Diamondbacks and bring disgruntled star Justin Upton to PNC Park.

In 12 career games at PNC Park, Upton has put up solid numbers, going 10-for-35 with three doubles. His batting line is .286/.419/.371/.790. 

True, his power numbers are missing, but the sample size is fairly small.

While he is having a down year, Upton is ambivalent towards Diamondback fans and has been getting booed at home games. A change in scenery may be just what the doctor ordered.

Fox Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi suggests that in order to make a trade of this magnitude the Pirates would have to sacrifice one or both of their prized prospects: outfielder Starling Marte or right-hander Jameson Taillon.

While the price tag may seem steep, the Pirates should not scoff at the asking price. Upton is just 24 years old, a two-time All-Star, Silver Slugger award recipient and came in fourth in the 2011 NL MVP voting.

The price tag is worthy.

Adding Upton to this lineup would offer protection to McCutchen and deepen the middle of the batting order in a manner that Bucs fans have not seen in two decades.

They say that everything happens for a reason. The Pirates should look at Votto hitting the DL as a sign from the baseball gods to strike while the iron is hot.

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