It's Official: Dodgers go for broke with Monster trade (UPDATED w/Immediate Results)

Hmmm...it's amazing what happens when a team having to scrape by on pennies for a couple of years all of a sudden is sold to a guy with gazillion's of dollars to spend.

That's what happened over the last 48 hours as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a massive trade with the Boston Red Sox.

The end result, the Dodgers get Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett along with Nick Punto for James Loney and 4 minor leaguer's. Granted the minor league guys were all prospects, but still a strange trade.

The Dodgers take on some $250 million more in Salary and the Red Sox clear space for next year. The Dodgers are 3 back of San Francisco as we write this, the Red Sox, all but out of the playoff's.

Our Take: The Dodgers are going out on a limb. A BIG limb. Gonzalez hasn't been the same guy he was since leaving San Diego. Crawford is and has been hurt...and done nothing in Boston. Beckett has been pretty good, though he has sucked so far this year. And now, if this doesn't work out...there's nobody of note left in the minor league system to bail them out.

And the Sox, finally stop trying to be "The Yankees" north. They have the flexibility and depth in the system to get much younger, leaner and probably in the long run...better.

Sure, there are a lot of baseball people who said "Oh, crap, the Dodgers just bought the championship". To them we say "Settle Down".

They may win won someday, but anyone who follows baseball closely knows you don't win on paper. And while on "Paper" they have lots of big names, unless those names live up to their paychecks, this may be a decision the Dodgers regret for a long, long time.

SUNDAY UPDATE: So, Gonzalez hits a home run in his Dodgers debut- good enough for the 8-2 win...

He speaks...
((HT: PTDodgers))

Team Dysfunction: Yahoo Sports says Red Sox don't like Bobby V.

((ht: yahoosports))

Well, really, are there a lot of people outside of ESPN who do like Bobby Valentine? Or at least it appears to be that way.

This after a report from Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports on a Boston Red Sox players and ownership team meeting where the team allegedly made the sentiment known in a vocal way.

Passan reports that in July, a text message from slugger Adrian Gonzalez helped trigger a players meeting with team president Larry Lucchino and owner John Henry.

And no, this appears not to have been a surprise to pretty much anyone.

Read the Yahoo Sports/Passan story in its entirety RIGHT HERE

Okay, now that we are done laughing, we'll explain why this is ridiculously funny.

It just proves the old adage that money doesn't always buy team chemistry. Yeah, sure, if you have an owner with deep pockets, you can spend $150 million plus a year on a roster. And if you are lucky, the guys won't have big enough egos to let that get in their way.

But it rarely happens.

That's why nobody is shocked at the dysfunction in Boston. That's why nobody is surprised a part of the team turned on the manager from the minute he walked in the door.

It doesn't help that because of the salaries, the team gets put under a BIG media microscope. Up in the Northeast, they don't always ask "How are you going to get out of your hitting slump?" rather it's "Why can't you hit?" or "Who's fault is it that the team pitching is struggling?"

No, as fans of a team that doesn't have unlimited resources, we'll just sit back and laugh at this. Because it happens every year. Not always to the Boston's of the world, but it always happens to someone. And this time your fall guy is going to either be Bobby Valentine or 75% or the Red Sox roster.

Wonder who will win?