WC Sox Fan wrote:

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I had a vision of how I would fix the Red Sox for both next season and the foreseeable future a couple of months ago. So before it has completely lost its chance of happening I thought I would run it by others to see what you guys think:

1. Trade Carl Crawford and cash (3 mil per year?) to the Mariners for Ichiro Suzuki.

-Why it makes sense for the Mariners: They receive a much younger player who they can team with Ackley as a much needed cornerstone of their franchise. Crawford's offense will likely improve in the smaller market atmosphere while his defense will be far more valuable in a larger outfield. And let's face it, big-name free agents don't seem to be rushing off to Seattle these days.

-Why it makes sense for the Red Sox: Regardless of what Ben Cherington thinks, Crawford only made sense in Boston under the presumption that Ellsbury wouldn't rebound from his injuries. Now he is a player who under-performed in his first season (although he will likely rebound to some extent) who has somewhat superfluous skills (solid power, great speed, pool plate discipline) playing in an outfield where his greatest skill is wasted 50% of the time. Additionally, this frees up enough salary to sign Ellsbury to an extension after the start of the 2013 season as Ichiro is in the last year of his contract. (trading a LF for a RF is important here)

2. Trade prospects for Carlos Quentin and ink him to a three year ~30 mil deal (he's expected to make around 7 in his last year of arbitration). Quentin is the big RH bat the Red Sox need and his poor defensive range will be covered up by playing half his games against the Green Monster. There have been several rumors of the White Sox trying to trade Quentin, so he may not cost an arm and a leg.

Career wOBA: .362

OPS at Fenway over last 3 seasons: 1.026 (only 41 PA)

3. Sign Yu Darvish. I know the bidding is already in and by the time this post is read you may already know the results (I don't necessarily believe anything Ben is saying to the media). The second highest bid for Daisuke last time was for less that $40 mil, so I don't see why a similar bid and contract for Yu would be out of the question.

4. Finalize the deal for Theo by including a prospect or two to acquire Sean Marshall (the best relief pitcher who nobody seems to talk about).

2010 xFIP: 2.50

2011 xFIP: 2.50

and he's another lefty in the last year of his contract (3.1 mil)

If the costs are too high, I would propose trading Ortiz (I don't think there are any rules against trading arbitration players) to the Mariners or Orioles and kicking in some cash (.... his 10-5 rights may prevent this).

Either way, this will reduce the payroll for 2013, when the Red Sox should have no problem getting under the luxury tax by cutting ties (not re-signing OR trading) with any two of Youkilis/Ortiz/Saltalamacchia and possibly moving Beckett if the other pitchers seem strong (Lackey will be back one way or another).

2012 lineup:

Ellsbury(L)

Pedroia(R)

Gonzalez(L)

Youkilis(R)

Ortiz(L)

Quentin(R)

Saltalamacchia(S)

Ichiro(L)

Scutaro(R)

(if Ichiro rebounds and Ellsbury keeps his power stroke, the could be 1 and 3, respectively)

2013: Kalish/Reddick, Lavarnway, Iglesias, and Middlebrooks all starters. Good time to roll the dice.

Ortiz accepting arbitration hurts this plan as I was originally projecting Lavarnway to be the starting DH.

I know its likely unrealistic, but feel free to chime in with your guys' thoughts.