The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox are in the playoffs and into the National League and American League championship series respectively and one of the main reasons why is the trade the two sides made last season, exchanging Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto for some financial freedom.
The Red Sox had a terrible year in 2012 and many would not have predicted that they would be the best team in the American League, but one reason they were able to pull off that turnaround was due to the freeing up of all that money when they traded away their superstars. Many in Boston were thrilled when the team pulled off the deal to get Adrian Gonzalez initially and also the signing of Carl Crawford, but once the team saw how things were working out, they decided to pull the plug.
Fans were demoralized by the move, but they also realized that it could mean some hope for the future after getting back some young players. But really the biggest part of the trade was getting all that money off the books, about $250 million in future money and that is what enabled the team to make some solid moves in free agency, adding integral players like Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli and they also were able to get Ryan Dempster and that also helped them get Jake Peavy in a trade, as they knew so much money had previously come off the books.
According to SI.com, the team was able to get their payroll down to around $150 million after it was over $170 million last season and now the team comes into the playoffs as the best in the AL, winning 97 games. They defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series and now they are in position to have home field advantage against either the Athletics or the Tigers in the ALCS.
The Dodgers also benefitted from the trade despite having to pay a ton of money to those players, as Crawford has bounced back from a terrible time in Boston, while Gonzalez was one of the best players for the franchise this season, leading the team in batting average, RBIs as well as home runs. Gonzalez was hugely important for the team this season and he ended up hitting nearly .300 with over 20 home runs and 100 RBIs on the dot and he also was tops in runs and on base percentage.
Both the Red Sox and Dodgers clearly benefited from this trade and now they are both into the championships series. The other two series in the NLDS and ALDS have went to five games and now the Dodgers will have to wait and see who wins between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Red Sox will have home field advantage over both the Tigers and the Athletics and they have to wait until Thursday to see who wins game 5 of the American League Championship Series.