I heard about the deal sending Melancon to the Red Sox for Jed Lowrie and Kyle Weiland around 1:15 today. My first reaction was a bit of shock. I am not shocked because I am so bummed that we sent a promising player away. I am shocked because, for once, our front office did something that makes sense on almost every level.
Relief pitchers are valuable commodities to a rebuilding team. The big competitive clubs are always looking to solidify their bullpen before a playoff run. In this case, the Red Sox are talking about moving their eighth inning guy, Daniel Bard, to the starting rotation, and they still sit without a closer. Luhnow used Boston's need to fill a need of ours. We needed a shortstop and starting pitching depth due to our top two pitchers both being on the trading block.
Lowrie has had his issues with injuries, but he has shown flashes of being a solid Major Leaguer. He will get something in Houston that he wasn't getting in Boston, and that is consistent playing time. Let's pretend that he has a great first half. If that happens, we have another valuable piece to unload for more organizational depth. Good hitting shortstops are not as common as they were in the nineties, so he could be particularly attractive to someone. Now that we seem to have competent leadership, I expect that we could get more back than a couple of relief pitchers with 4.00+ ERAs in the minors.
This is the way rebuilding is done. You have to take risks on guys at the end of their careers and younger players with unrealized potential. They don't cost as much, which means you keep payroll down, and they are easier to trade. I am very excited to see that our leadership has a plan and are wasting little time getting to it. This won't be the last trade of this offseason. I can handle losing when there is a plan to stop at some point.
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