Breaking down the trade: Bob's side

After breaking down our first trade of the season from Mike's side, let's today look at it from Bob's side.

This is all speculation because, surprisingly, Bob did not respond to an interview request for this article.

Unlike for Mike, for Bob, it was not quite Jayson Werth for Jon Lester. He also got Placido Polanco to fill a hole at second base, but unfortunately for him, Polanco quickly went on the disabled list. Long-term, however, he is an upgrade over Orlando Hudson.


Bob took a hit in pitching, obviously, by giving up Jon Lester. John Danks isn't close to him in talent, but he's serviceable. Plus, Bob has Cole Hamels locked up and Stephen Strasburg in the waiting, so Lester was expendable. And he got back a possible keeper in Werth, especially if he leaves for Boston or New York next season.

It will be very interesting to see how Bob handles his keeper decisions. He only has two open slots. Check out these names, all reasonable hitting keepers: Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, Nelson Cruz.

Clearly, Bob has loaded up on hitting, identifying that as his best chance to win this season.

Question is, though, could he even have gotten a better player than Werth straight up for Lester? Probably. Instead, he took the route of trying to plug holes in adding Polanco and another pitcher in Danks to the trade.