The thought before the WTF signing of Carl Crawford was that we needed a right-handed bat. Obviously, Carl doesn't give us this.

Carlos Beltran's name, of course, has been thrown around as a possible trade. At first I was leery due to the fact that Beltran has played less than half a season over the past two years. And I'm not saying that I'm not at all leery now, but the more it's been talked about, the more I like the potential upside.

I guess maybe the signing of Crawford is what put me over the edge. I'm not the Ellsbury-hater some are, actually I rather like him on the team, but he does become somewhat redundant with Crawford on the team.

Trading Ells for Beltran could put an end to the LF/CF debate that naturally occurs when trying to figure out who mans where in the outfield. Crawford wants to play left, Ellsbury is best suited for left. It was suggested that Crawford's speed could compensate for Ellsbury's bad reads in center...but all I see coming out of that is a collision in the outfield, as Ellsbury goes full bore after a fly ball he didn't pick up on right away and fails to call off Crawford (see: Beltre, Adrian). With Beltran, we have a natural center fielder. Are his knees enough to cover the Triangle? I dunno.

If Beltran breaks down, we would have a very capable back up in Mike Cameron, who was our full-time plan last season.

Problem being, of course, next season we now have two OF vacancies to fill, plus a back up OF.

So, for the sake of ease, let's say the Mets were willing to eat $10 million dollars of the $18.5 million Beltran is due this upcoming season. Let's also assume that Beltran waives his no-trade clause at no detriment to the Red Sox.

Do you trade Ellsbury for Beltran?