 07/31/2004 9:19 PM ET
Garciaparra traded to Cubs
Boston gets Cabrera, Mientkiewicz in four-team trade
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| Kevin Millar checks out the jersey of new teammate Doug Mientkiewicz. (Ann Heisenfelt/AP)
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MINNEAPOLIS -- In what would have been an almost unthinkable proposition as recently as a year ago, the Red Sox dealt perhaps their most popular player in recent memory. Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who was an icon during his eight years in Boston, was moved to the Cubs right at the brink of Saturday's 4 p.m. ET trade deadline.
In exchange for the two-time batting champion and five-time All-Star, the Red Sox received a pair of former Gold Glove winners in shortstop Orlando Cabrera and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Aside from the Cubs, the deal also included the Twins and Expos.
"My initial reaction was, 'Wow,'" Garciaparra said. "I know there was a lot of talk and everything. There was a lot of speculation, but you don't know."
Now he does.
Entering the final year of his contract and coming off a right Achilles injury that kept him out of the season's first 57 games, the 31-year-old Garciaparra was no longer the untouchable he was for most of his eight seasons with the Red Sox.
But Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is in the business of trying to win a World Series, and he felt this was a deal that had to be made to get to that end. Quite simply, the Red Sox needed to upgrade a defense that was third in the American League with 79 errors entering Saturday action.
"If there was a flaw on this club, it was that the defense on this team was not championship-caliber," Epstein said. "We might have gotten to the postseason. But, in my mind, we weren't going to win a World Series with our defense the way it was. We've acquired two players who have won Gold Gloves."
Two-time Gold Glove winner Pokey Reese will come off the disabled list in the next couple of weeks, meaning that the Sox will at times have a prolific defense with Reese, Cabrera and Mientkiewicz. Third baseman Bill Mueller is also a solid defender.
The Red Sox conceded that Garciaparra's uncertain health played a role in the deal. Garciaparra told a member of the team's training staff earlier this week that he would likely need some blocks of games off if he was going to make it to the end of the season healthy, which, according to one club official, could be as much as "three games here, or three games there."
After the Sox had a day off on Thursday, Garciaparra was too sore to play on Friday, though he would have been in the lineup Saturday night if not for the trade.
Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino said that the team was very upfront about Garciaparra's health in their negotiations with the Cubs.
"Theo made full disclosure to the Cubs in these negotiations regarding Nomar's condition and the potential of his limited availability in the second half," said Lucchino. "They understood that and accepted that and made the deal with their eyes wide open. So, I hope it proves to be a successful deal for all parties involved."
In addition to Garciaparra, the Sox sent Single-A outfield prospect Matt Murton and cash considerations to the Cubs.
"I think a lot of it comes back to trying to make our ballclub better," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "These decisions get more difficult when you're talking about people like Nomar and what they mean to the city and the organization. I think everybody understands that. At the same time, our job, Theo's job, is to try and make us a better ballclub."
Last winter, Epstein was also trying to make his team "a better ballclub," and nearly dealt Manny Ramirez to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez. He then was reportedly set to pull off an exchange that would have sent Garciaparra and Scott Williamson to the White Sox for Magglio Ordonez. But that series of moves fell apart when the Red Sox couldn't come to an agreement with the Players Union on a restructuring of Rodriguez's contract.
While Garciaparra admitted he was hurt by the rumors over the winter, he didn't let it alter his focus in this trying season, as he battled back from the Achilles injury and made his season debut on June 9.
"That's baseball," Garciaparra said. "Baseball has some adversity in it and we've gone through it, not just personally but in other aspects of it. And you dealt with it, especially here with the Red Sox. And everything, with all the attention, things have the tendency to get magnified or whatever. It's just one of those things. This trade is just another part of it."
In a separate deadline transaction, the Sox acquired left-handed hitting outfielder Dave Roberts from the Dodgers for Triple-A outfielder Henri Stanley, a move that will improve Boston's depth and speed. Roberts also fills some of the outfield void left by ailing right fielder Trot Nixon, whose status for the remainder of the season is in limbo.
But the big news of the day was Garciaparra's departure.
"We just traded away Mr. Boston, a guy who meant so much to the city and just like that he's gone," said Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon.
For Epstein -- a Boston native himself -- that was not easy.
"You never want to trade a player of Nomar's caliber," Epstein said. "I should start as saying as someone who has worked with the Red Sox [the last three years] and grew up a Red Sox fan, it is with mixed emotions we see Nomar go. He's been a great Red Sox [player], one of the greatest of all-time. I wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future."
Garciaparra came to the Metrodome on Saturday still thinking about the present, and was prepared to start against the Twins. He was even in Francona's original lineup, batting fifth. But roughly 40 minutes after the trade deadline passed, Francona closed the clubhouse and Garciaparra was made aware of the deal.
"I've been kind of away from it and really focused on just playing because it's stuff that's out of my control," Garciaparra said. "And it's still out of my control. If it was in my control, I'd still be wearing a Red Sox uniform. That's the place I know, I love, and all those fans, I'll always remember. But I'm also going to another great place, a phenomenal city with great tradition as well."
While in Boston, Garciaparra was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1997. He finished second in the 1998 AL MVP voting. And he won his two batting titles by hitting .357 in 1999 and a career-high .372 in 2000.
Garciaparra is a career .323 hitter with 178 homers and 690 RBIs. He was a first-round draft pick of the Red Sox (12th overall) in June 1994 and swiftly rose through the minor league ranks.
The Sox hope that the 29-year-old Cabrera's arrival in a baseball-crazed market like Boston (not to mention the comfy hitting confines of Fenway Park) will get his offense back to the level it was at a year ago, when he hit .297 with 17 homers and 80 RBIs. At the time of the trade, Cabrera was hitting .246 with four homers and 31 RBIs in 103 games.
By comparison, Garciaparra, in just 38 games, was hitting .321 with five homers and 21 RBIs.
"I think getting Cabrera out of Montreal and getting him into a situation like Boston, where there's going to be a little more excitement, I think will get the best out of him, which I think will be very good," said Francona.
Like Cabrera, Mientkiewicz, who simply had to move from the home clubhouse to the visitors clubhouse to make his Boston debut Saturday night, is having a rough year offensively.
He entered his first start with the Sox hitting .246 with five homers and 25 RBIs. But the 30-year-old Mientkiewicz is universally regarded as one of the game's elite defenders at first base. Epstein said that the arrival of Mientkiewicz shouldn't have much impact on the playing time of Kevin Millar, who will rotate between first base and the outfield.
"I didn't want [the defense] to become a fatal flaw," said Epstein. "We've been a .500 team for three months. I liked the club before, but I like it better now. We're a fully functional club."
Not that dealing a player of Garciaparra's magnitude was easy.
"It is never easy to part with a player who has meant as much to your franchise as Nomar Garciaparra," said Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino. "No player in recent years is more identified with the Red Sox, and we thank Nomar for his countless contributions to this club and the community over the last eight years. We wish him only the best in Chicago. He leaves with our respect, admiration and gratitude."
As Garciaparra got set to fly to Chicago, where the Cubs play the Phillies on Sunday, he left with both excitement and sadness.
"I've always said this is the place I started and always wanted to finish, that's obviously not going to happen," Garciaparra said. "You wanted to spend your entire career with one team, but at the same time, they can take the shirt off my back, but they can't take away the memories. I'm very fortunate to go to another phenomenal organization, and I'm still playing the game I love."
And as mightily as Garciaparra tried to end a championship drought in Boston that stretches to 1918, his teammates will now try and accomplish that mission without him.
"We know we got a very good shortstop," Damon said. "We know we got a very good defensive first baseman. Only time will tell. You have to be ready to play in Boston, and hopefully the guys we brought over are going to be ready."
Epstein is now poised to let Boston's title hopes rest on the defense, in addition to the other facets of the game.
"This club had a flaw," said Epstein. "We need to be able to win the tight, low-scoring games you often have in October. We need to be able to catch the ball."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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