V-Mart Open for Business...

...and featuring a fine collection of First Basemen. The Red Sox made their statement yesterday in a hunt for lumber that brought coveted (though maybe not quite as much as Adrian Gonzalez) catcher/1B Victor Martinez to Boston, along with a first baseman switcheroo with Atlanta, shipping Adam "we hardly knew ye" LaRoche to the Braves and getting Casey Kotchman, former Brave and Angel, in return. Cliff Lee is a Phillie and Roy Halladay is still taking the hill north of the border. The Sox have upgraded their offensive attack, but are still vulnerable when Beckett and Lester aren't on the mound.

Overall, I like the trades and I'm glad the team made some much needed improvement on the offensive end of things. They had been clawing and scratching for runs lately and perhaps adding a bat like V-Mart, though he is slumping at the moment, could spark the on-again, off-again offense. A change of scenery and more protection in the lineup may help the switch-hitting slugger who gave the Red Sox fits whenever he played against them. It will take some lineup juggling on the part of the skipper, but that kind of depth means the team will not have to rely as heavily on Mike Lowell as they did in the first half. Kotchman is younger and hits for a higher average than LaRoche, albeit with less power. He also has a better glove and fits the bench role better than the guy he's replacing.

Pitching still worries me, however. Halladay would have been great, but the Jays played hardball with all teams interested in snagging him and as a result, he stays put. As it is now, Beckett and Lester are a formidable 1-2 punch. After them, the Sox have a glut of #5 starters (or those who wish they could be #5 starters). Buchholz shows promise, but he's still hampered with confidence issues when men are on base. Penny can be very good one outing and horrid the next. Dice's season was lost to the WBC and poor offseason conditioning. Smoltz is an experiment that just didn't pay off. He's trying as hard as he can, but the magic is gone. He has yet to have a quality start in a Red Sox uniform. Wake's on the DL and we don't know when he'll return and whether he will continue being as effective as he had in the first half. If he can pick up where he left off, he's been pitching like a #3. Of course, he has struggled mightily in the post-season, especially lately. Will the waiver wire this month net the Sox a decent third starter, or will they be more back-enders that the Sox already have too many of. Can Michael Bowden or even Junichi Tazawa fill the gaping hole in the middle of the rotation? We shall see...

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!