Red Sox clean house...

Blockbuster complete
Posted by Michael Silverman at 8:12 am

The rebuilding of the Red Sox begins today.
Early this morning, the Red Sox and Dodgers concluded a blockbuster deal in which the Red Sox shipped four players – Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto – in exchange for a massive relief in salary as well as four minor-leaguers and first baseman James Loney, according to a Red Sox source.

The deal will be worth in excess of $275 million to the Red Sox including luxury tax savings and salaries for the remainder of this season and beyond. Over the next six years, the Dodgers will receive $12 million from the Red Sox, with the payments to begin next year.

Through a mixture of underperformance and bad seeds in the clubhouse, the Red Sox, out of the playoffs mix since 2009, have needed a massive overhaul that most thought would begin in the offseason.

The Dodgers, under new ownership, sped up that timetable by making waiver claims this month.

There will be much more to come throughout the day about the deal.

Link:
http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/red_sox/