The Nomar Trade - The Morning After

After having slept on the idea of a Red Sox team without Nomar Garciaparra -I am more accepting of the idea and more understanding of the reasoning behind the trade.

If you listened carefully to the press conferences - you would have heard veiled threats that Nomar was willing to partially shut himself down and take more time off in order not to risk injury as a member of the Red Sox. Nomar's agent had to give assurances that would not be the case for the Cubs before the deal was consummated.

Given the choice between a Nomar who would be willing to play 50-75% of the remaining regular season games or an Orlando Cabrera willing to play 90% of the games - well I think the Red Sox made the right choice.

It was clear to all Red Sox fans that Nomar was not going to resign with the Red Sox. It was also clear that the two top replacement candidates for Nomar were Orlando Cabrera and Edgar Renteria - who may not want to leave St. Louis the way Nomar wanted to leave Boston.

Now the Red Sox have Cabrera and they get to see first hand if he is the sort of player worth investing millions of dollars on. They have not just given themselves a superior shortstop for the rest of the season but they have also purchased themselves some exclusive bargaining time after the World Series in which to negotiate with Cabrera.

One way to look at this deal is to say that the Red Sox traded an unhappy player for two who should be happy to be with a winning team and that the price of an exclusive window of negotiation with Orlando Cabrera is the two draft picks the Red Sox lost by not keeping Nomar and offering him arbitration after the season. I can live with that.

One topic that most seem to be overlooking is the topic of character. Cabrera was voted the MVP of the Expos the last two seasons and Doug Mientkiewicz is well known as a team leader.

Player intangibles are like art. Tough to describe but you pretty much know it when you see it. I'm willing to say that the Red Sox traded for two players who will bring intangibles to the table for the Red Sox in their quest for a World Series.

Nomar Garciaparra was and is a great player but please understand that to many in Boston - he's no Ray Bourque. If he did win the World Series with the Cubs this year - there would be no City Hall reception waiting for him in Boston.

Best of luck to you Nomar but if one curse is to end this year - well let's just say I know whch one I'm rooting for.