At Trade Deadline, There’s Plenty of Life

The Big Unit wasn’t traded on deadline Saturday, but a big parcel of the Red Sox Nation was.

In a spotlight-stealing, four-team blockbuster, Nomar Garciaparra exchanged one curse for another, going from landmark status among Boston fans to the shortstop-needy Chicago Cubs.

What to make of a trade in which Orlando Cabrera moves from the Montreal Expos to become the Red Sox shortstop and Garciaparra escapes a cycle of negativity that began with Boston’s off-season attempt to acquire Alex Rodriguez?

What to think of the New York Yankees’ success in coercing the Chicago White Sox to take the inconsistent Jose Contreras in exchange for the more reliable Esteban Loaiza?

What to feel about Paul DePodesta’s bullpen-busting, outfield-altering, chemistry-challenging overhaul of the division-leading Dodgers after he failed to land the battery of Johnson & Johnson?

Some answers:

No More Nomar

This complex transaction should prove positive for the Cubs, whose shortstops (i.e. Alex Gonzalez, now Cabrera’s replacement in Montreal) were the least productive in the National League, and for Garciaparra.

Not only does he go from one wild card possibility to another, securing a two-month look at a new league before becoming eligible for free agency, but he gets to breathe some fresh air.

“The media there dwelled on a perception of how unhappy they thought Nomar was,” his dad, Ramon, said from his La Habra Heights home Saturday, “and that just kept spreading even though Nomar never said anything to support it.

“I mean, I don’t know how unhappy he could have been when he just built a $3-million house in Boston that he hasn’t even had the chance to move into yet, but we talked today and he definitely thinks this trade will be good for him.

“The hard part will be leaving the fans, but he’s going to a good team and he should get more of a chance now to relax and go play. There were so many negatives going on with the team and his situation in Boston.”

While the Cubs were giving up little for a franchise player, the Red Sox landed two Gold Glove winners in the trade -- Cabrera and Minnesota Twin first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz -- and in a separate deal improved their depth and speed by acquiring Dave Roberts from the Dodgers.

“The reality is that we’ve been a .500 team for three months now,” Boston General Manager Theo Epstein said. “We had a potential fatal flaw with our defense that this trade helps correct, and we have more dimension now with a guy like Dave Roberts.”

All of that may be true, but on a day that many in New England thought they would never see, the Red Sox trading the popular Garciaparra out of the division and league, the hated Yankees weren’t simply sitting idle.

No Way, Jose

Lacking the type of prospects that might have influenced the Diamondbacks to trade Randy Johnson, the suspicion is that Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was determined to improve his fragile rotation.

The remarkable part of it was that the Yankees found a taker for the enigmatic Contreras, who was pounded by Baltimore on Thursday, is 8-5 with a 5.64 earned-run average and has almost 2 1/2 years left on the bust of a four-year, $32-million contract. Of course, the Yankees dipped into petty cash and agreed to include $4 million in the deal for Loaiza, who won 21 games for the White Sox last year, has rivaled Contreras as a 2004 disappointment at 9-5, 4.86 and will be eligible for free agency.

When the accountants had finished, the suddenly struggling White Sox saw a greater upside with the multiyear commitment to the latent talent of Contreras while the Yankees, eyeing October, preferred Loaiza’s experience, stability and All-Star credentials.

No Whining, Please

There is much at risk in the moves DePodesta made in the 48 hours before the deadline, but stop the wailing. If the freshman general manager hadn’t tried to add a pitcher and/or hitter, as the letter writers and talk shows urged, what would have been the reaction?

Brad Penny upgrades the rotation while Hideo Nomo and Edwin Jackson remain on the disabled list and Jose Lima works with mirrors.

Steve Finley improves the offense while the Dodgers continue to pray that the bone spur in Adrian Beltre’s ankle doesn’t break loose, and Hee Seop Choi arrives with more home runs than Shawn Green.

Should DePodesta have known that Charles Johnson was going to reject the chance to join the Dodgers before trading Paul Lo Duca? Well, Johnson changed his mind so many times during the process that the Colorado catcher might have been diagnosed with altitude sickness.

Should DePodesta have known that he couldn’t satisfy Arizona’s demands for Randy Johnson before settling on Penny? Well, multiple sources now agree that it was hard to know what the Diamondbacks really wanted for Johnson or if they ever really intended to trade him or even if they ever presented the Dodgers to him. As for settling on Penny, didn’t he have a 2-0 record in the World Series and isn’t his earned-run average the NL’s 11th best and better than that of any Dodger except Odalis Perez, who is also 3.15?

Make no mistake, there are issues here. Can Darren Dreifort and Duaner Sanchez replace the setup dominance of Guillermo Mota? Is Choi an emerging threat or are his .194 average against left-handers and .224 average with runners in scoring position telltale concerns? Can David Ross and Brent Mayne replace Lo Duca, and can the Dodgers compensate for the loss of leadership from Lo Duca and Roberts?

Chemistry, of course, is a mysterious thing, but it is worth remembering that Dodger chemistry wasn’t worth much in the second half of last season when Lo Duca slumped badly, a management concern that was compounded by his falloff this June and July.

“I think chemistry is important,” DePodesta said, “but I think it’s more than guys getting along. It’s also guys making the guys around them even better, and I think the guys we’re bringing in have a chance to do that. We have a long way to go, but the goal is to get to the playoffs and to be in position to do something when we get there. I think we’re better than we were two days ago.”

The benefit of the doubt? On deadline Saturday, at least, the GM gets it.