Breaking down the trade: Mike's side

We had our first trade of the season, after three long months. Let's first look at this from Mike's side.

He made it clear he was a seller and his season was basically over. The playoffs will not be happening, and Mike was in rebuilding mode.

When it comes down to it from Mike's side, the trade was basically Jayson Werth for Jon Lester. Sure, there were some other pieces thrown in (including a very recent pickup and a now-injured player), but for Mike, this trade was Werth for Lester.


Before this trade, he obviously had Ian Kinsler locked away for next year. Who else? Well, good question. Werth certainly was part of that discussion, I'm sure. But he really lacked a pitching keeper. Jeff Niemann? Joel Pineiro? John Danks? If he goes into next year with any of those three, he's already starting the season behind the eight ball.

"Knew I had to make some trades for keepers going into next year, with this year all but done for me," Mike said.

So it was obvious he was going after a strong pitcher.

And there's no denying Mike got one in Lester. The guy has been awesome this year, 9-3 record, 2.86 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 111 strikeouts, and complete-game potential. Great, great numbers; absolutely a top-of-the-line pitcher. This seems like a no-brainer that Mike will be keeping him next year and maybe beyond, filling a big hole in a pitching keeper.

"We knew we needed to find a stud pitcher," Mike said. "And Lester fit the mold nicely for us."

It's hard to speculate whether Mike traded away too much. Clearly Placido Polanco and Danks mean nothing to him long-term, but now he will be hard-pressed to make a trade from this point forward. He does not have very many chips left, now that he has traded his best long-term value on offense in Werth.

Mike says he's "not done trading."

"We will be looking over everyone's teams again to see who we can target that would be keeper worthy," he said.

At this point, though, it's hard to believe Mike will be able to land another player that he can keep - that is, unless he can find a trading partner to take Tim Lincecum or Justin Verlander and deal with the penalties that come with it.