The Red Sox have traded Stephen Drew to the New York Yankees for Kelly Johnson.
Wait, that can't be right...
confirmed: Stephen Drew to Yankees
— Gordon Edes (@GordonEdes) July 31, 2014
Confirmed: Stephen Drew for Kelly Johnson
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) July 31, 2014
Dear God...
If you're trying to figure out where Kelly Johnson will fit in, there's every possibility he's not going to. It's been four years now since Johson's one huge year with the Diamondbacks, and since he's currently on the DL, the Red Sox don't have to make any decisions right away. Once the time comes to remove him, however, they may just be cutting him loose.
Which begs the question why make the deal at all? Part of me thinks this is just a strange bit of humor from Ben Cherington. At the end of a busy deadline day, dump Stephen Drew--who the Red Sox were going to get rid of one way or another in the days to come--in a trade with their hated rivals in New York, just to put a bizarre cap on the whole thing. Maybe he just wants to hear Jeter vs. Drew arguments for a few hours. Maybe he just wants to watch the world burn?
Whatever the case, the upshot of dropping Stephen Drew is mostly just to free up the shortstop position and a roster space, allowing Xander Bogaerts to move back and giving the Red Sox a little more room to breathe when moving around all their new acquisitions.
What a strange day it's been.