Theo Epstein continued his roster juggling today after the signing of Adrian Beltre yesterday by coming to an agreement with the Mariners for Casey Kotchman. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Red Sox will receive super-utility man Bill Hall, a minor league player to be named later, and cash. Kotchman no longer had ABs left for him in Boston with Youk now being a full time first baseman to be spelled by Victor Martinez. Bill Hall could potentially be a perfect fit, with the ability to play 3B, SS, 2B, and OF. Depending on what Theo decides to do with Jed Lowrie (He has 2 option years remaining and could use steady playing time in AAA to get healthy), Hall will either be the backup in the middle infield, Beltre's backup at third, or an emergency 5th OF. The player to be named later is reportedly going to be from a pre-determined list of prospects who the Sox will evaluate in Spring Training.
The interesting part of the deal is the cash exchange between Seattle and Boston. Kotchman is arbitration eligible and is thus due a slight raise on his $4M salary from last year. Hall is due $8.4M in 2010 but $7.5M of that is being paid by the Brewers to the Mariners. Should the M's send that money to Boston and cover most of, if not all of Kotchman's salary, Boston could be saving money and thus would avoid the luxury tax issue that has been creeping up on them. Another consequence of this deal is that Mike Lowell went from having one foot out the door to now having both out. Boston just needs to wait until someone is ready to sign off on a deal, thumb surgery and all.
Overall, the deal is a good one for Boston, given that the information we've been given thus far is accurate. Boston gets a guy who plays numerous positions, all of which he is needed at, and can be at least as productive at the plate as Kotchman had been in the same number of ABs, all while avoiding taking on too much salary for anyone.
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