It’s the trade that rocked the baseball world. Nine players. Millions upon millions of dollars. A transaction that bridged east coast and west. And all the while, the rest of the league watched it unfold, their mouths agape.

It’s the trade that may have shifted the baseball landscape as we know it.

While rival executives and numerous analysts lambast the Dodgers for taking on such astronomical contract costs, and cheer the Red Sox for shedding so much payroll, and symbolically, shedding some of their recent disappointment, the actual ramifications aren’t so simple, so black and white, so easy. Yes, Boston shed dollars, gained some decent prospects, and found flexibility for the future. But they also just shed their best offensive player, and seemingly, any chance to win soon.

On the other hand, the Dodgers went all in. Worst case scenario: the pieces of this deal can’t live up to the dollars, becoming expensive busts that bring about whispers of names like Vernon Wells and Barry Zito. Best case scenario: The Dodgers get a lot better, and don’t just win a lot soon; they win a lot now.

Despite the Bostonian tradition of negativity that surrounds these players, Los Angeles may have gained the missing pieces to the toughest puzzle in sports –forming the total picture and contending for the title. We know that money doesn’t buy championships. One needs to look no further than the Phillies, who completed one of the most dynamite rotations in recent memory, only to collapse. Or the Red Sox, who had a lineup that looked destined to go the distance. But here’s the difference: The Dodgers, now, may have a little bit of both.

Each piece of this trade is a risk, damaged goods, a set up for failure. But each piece is also, potentially, the missing one –the piece that makes the Dodgers franchise relevant again.

Adrian Gonzalez:

Only in Boston could this man’s face accompany a newspaper headline that reads “Bums away.” Once beloved in San Diego, he became one of the faces of Boston’s implosion, and quickly, an already impressive career was fast forgotten.

This “bum” has done nothing less than hit .294/.371/.509 in his nine year career. He’s done nothing less than play more than 155 games for six straight seasons, post five 170+hit seasons, amass five 25+ home run seasons, make four All-Star games, garner three Gold Gloves, and twice finish in the top 10 of MVP voting. That’s all.

And Adrian Gonzalez is not a has-been, or a once-was. He’s not a bust or a shadow of a former self. He’s really good, and he’s really good right now.

Despite a slow start as he adjusted to his new team, Gonzalez has been Boston’s most valuable offensive player. In 2012, he’s hitting .300/.343/.469 with 15 HR and 86 RBI. Since the All-Star Break, the numbers are even better (.333/.373/.600, 10 HR, 44 RBI).

But I guess, even for those numbers, he’s expensive. He was the marquee name that had to be present for this deal to happen. And, he’s not the type of face that people tend to gravitate toward in Boston. He’s not Dustin Pedroia, or Jacoby Ellsbury, or Kevin Youkilis. He doesn’t fit that mold.

But now, he’s going back to California –a place where he has been, and could be once again, a star.

Gonzalez’ return to the NL West, where he found a way to make headlines as a San Diego Padre, seems poised to make waves. This guy has been in Southern California before, facing these opponents, playing in these parks. And, last I checked, he did well enough to earn that monstrous contract.

His stats against NL West opponents that weren’t the Dodgers:

Giants: .285/.367/.469, 15 HR, 46 RBI, 101 hits in 91 games.
Rockies: .295/.375/.506, 16 HR, 69 RBI, 99 hits in 88 games.
D-Backs: .288/.393/.517, 20 HR, 58 RBI, 93 hits in 90 games.

His stats in opposing NL West venues:

PETCO Park, San Diego: .267/.367/.442, 57 HR, 201 RBI, 376 hits in 397 games.
Coors Field, Colorado: .330/.405/.618, 14 HR, 54 RBI, 63 hits in 47 games.
AT&T Park, San Francisco: .297/.371/.462, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 54 hits in 45 games.
Chase Field, Arizona: .314/.389/.604, 13 HR, 37 RBI, 53 hits in 45 games.

Let’s put it this way: When Adrian Gonzalez was Boston Bound, his NL West opponents weren’t sad to see him go. They’d seen enough of him sending balls flying to every gap in their ballpark. Now, he’s back. And in this division, in this town, in this moment, he won’t be a bum. He could easily be the hero.

Los Angeles once experienced mass hysteria when a Mexican-American with star power stole the hearts of the Dodgers fan base. Fernando Valenzuela became instantly infamous. Today, Mexican-American Adrian Gonzalez could earn a similar fanaticism.

All he did in his first Dodger at-bat was send a home-run into his new fans and shades of blue. Turns out, this bum can play.

Carl Crawford:

In the case of Carl Crawford, the future seems less certain. After nine years of tearing up the base paths, the outfield, and the league in Tampa Bay, Crawford arrived in Boston and seemed to instantly deflate beneath the pressure of so many dollars, so many screaming fans, and so much clubhouse chaos. Many have written him off as a lost cause.

Crawford, to such critics, is a lost cause, whose eleven year career of hitting .292/.332/.441 with 432 stolen bases means nothing. He’s a lost cause who has stolen 50+ bases in five seasons, hit over .300 in five seasons, slugged 175+ hits in seven seasons, made four All-Star teams, and earned notoriety as the Fielding Bible’s best defensive outfielder. But that was then, this is now.

People don’t seem willing to cut Carl Crawford a break. They see his disappearance as something beyond the injuries he suffered –something that has more to do with baseball and less to do with a fragile mind that wasn’t ready for baseball’s toughest microscope in Boston. They say, as a player, he’s finished.

I’m not so sure. Since coming back from his injury, this season, he continued to play with a bad elbow and managed to hit .282/.306/.479. It’s not setting the world on fire. It’s not earning the $100 million dollar contract. But it’s progress. And the guy was still hurt. Perhaps Tommy John surgery will right his physical ailments, and his move away from Boston will take the pressure off that may have crippled his game even more than his failing arm.

Unlike Gonzalez, Crawford is higher risk. Half a decade remains on one of the sport’s biggest contracts. But if, against all Boston belief, he returns to the Carl Crawford that led the Rays to inexplicable season after inexplicable season, then the Dodgers just did what Carl Crawford has always done; they just got a steal.

Josh Beckett:

If any of these three marquee players deserved the “bum” label, it’s Josh Beckett. He’s hardly been an endearing face of the Red Sox franchise, especially when he scoffed at the idea that people would be concerned/affronted with his playing golf after being scratched for an injury. Because, as Beckett claimed, you only get so many off days.

Maybe he forgot that he pitches every five days.

Sadly, those every –five-day outings can’t be forgotten by Red Sox nation. In 2012, they took a turn for the worst. So far this season, he’s 5-11, has a 5.23 ERA, 6.6 strikeouts/nine innings, and a WAR (Wins above Replacement) of 0.1. Compared to his career numbers of 130-92, a 3.93 ERA, 8.3 strikeouts/nine innings, and 2.82 WAR/year, it’s seemed this season that Beckett has fallen far from his prime.

This season, he’s on pace to finish with a career-low strikeout percentage and a career high of percentage of strikes put into play. Those numbers say one thing: the gas is gone; what once to be swing-and-miss is now ready, aim, fire.

But don’t be too quick to write off Boston’s favorite villain. We’ve seen this movie before. In 2011, it seemed that 34-year-old AJ Burnett was on his last legs as a serviceable starter. After promising years in Florida and Toronto, he collapsed beneath the weight of the Yankee uniform. In 2010, he finished 10-15 with a 5.26 ERA, giving up 9.8 hits/nine innings. 2011 wasn’t much better, as Burnett posted numbers of 11-11, a 5.15 ERA, and 9.4 hits/nine innings. Next to career numbers of 136-115, 4.07 ERA, and 8.2 hits/nine innings, the best seemed clearly over.

Then 2012 happened. And Burnett made the move to the National League –a move that has paid dividends for numerous AL pitchers in the past. This season, for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he’s 15-4, has an ERA of 3.63, and is back down to 8.4 hits/nine innings. All is good again for AJ Burnett.

There are no guarantees that Beckett will resurge from this season of disappointment. But there is hope to be found in history. And there is hope to be found in a change of scenery.

And if nothing else, I hear the golf in Southern California is top-notch.

The Dodgers:

But these are just numbers. These are just isolated pieces. What matters most in that eventual, but inevitable, breakdown of this trade’s success is in finding where these pieces fit. Plenty of teams over the years have gone star-shopping. Few have done so in a way that creates a complete picture, a complete team, a contender.

But the Dodgers may have just done it. Beneath the hills of Hollywood, they may have just written the script to a high-budget blockbuster with one hell of an ending.

Let’s start with Adrian Gonzalez. As I mentioned before, his 2012 numbers include batting .300/.343/.469, with 15 HR and 86 RBIs. In Los Angeles, he replaces James Loney and others –a crew of first baseman, this season, that batted .243/.288/.362 with 11 HR and 58 RBIs. That’s what baseballs minds might call a significant upgrade.

Gonzalez also adds firepower to an offense, that thanks to injury and lack of bats, desperately needs it. Despite their record of 69-58, and being less than a game out of the NL Wild Card, the Dodgers’ offense has been pretty terrible. Of 16 National League teams, they rank 15^th in home runs, 9^th in stolen bases, 14^th in strikeouts, 14^th in slugging percentage, and 12^th in runs scored.

Having Gonzalez’ stability, bat, and presence in the same lineup as Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and a resurgent Hanley Ramirez can only improve those trends as the Dodgers stake their claim to the pennant race.

Obviously, Carl Crawford won’t fill any holes this season. Tommy John Surgery has knocked him out for the near future. But in the distant future, a Carl Crawford that finds himself could fill a desperate need for this Dodger franchise.

In his heyday, Crawford was one of the league’s best leadoff hitters. No such hitter resides in Los Angeles –at least not this side of town. The Dodgers’ leadoff hitters in 2012 have hit .225/.283/.294, only garnering 121 hits in 127 games. Only the 9^th slot in the Los Angeles roster –you know, where the pitchers hit—has a lower batting average. That’s unacceptable. And high cost or not, Crawford offers a drastic improvement over that stat line.

Josh Beckett’s place in this grand design seems less necessary. Pitching is already one of the Dodgers’ greatest strengths. While their offense finds the near-bottom of the NL rankings, their pitching is at or near the top. They rank 2^nd in ERA, hits allowed, and runs allowed, they rank 1^st in home-runs allowed, and they rank 4^th in strikeouts.

But there’s one thing their rotation might be lacking as they near the prospect of playing in the postseason, not someday, but soon, this season, right freaking now –and that’s experience. Many of these guys don’t have many innings beneath the bright lights of October.

That’s experience that Josh Beckett has plenty of. There was a time when people were asking if he was one of the best postseason pitchers ever. In his career, he’s gone 7-3 in the playoffs, with a 3.07 ERA, 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, a 0.940 WHIP (Walks+Hits per innings pitched), and World Series titles to boot.

If the Dodgers can finish this unlikely season and earn the right to decide their fate beneath the cooler nights of October, Beckett may rise from the ashes. That’s where he’s always thrived. If, somehow, this team made it to the World Series, and Beckett found himself amidst the biggest games, I doubt that any of their fans will regret the number next to the dollar sign.

World Series wins are priceless.

And that’s the mindset that new Dodger ownership clearly has in making this deal. In the here and now, it looks expensive. It looks like a deal that’s begging for years of sorrow and regret –of paying overhyped players their millions while they dabble in mediocrity.

Or maybe it’s the perfect storm. Maybe it’s high cost, high reward. Maybe it’s the Hollywood ending that Dodgers fans have been pining for for years.

The men that run the Dodgers are all-in. And time will tell if this deal was stupidly expensive or expensively ingenious. But if these players, too, go all-in, and their pasts dictate their possible futures, then this high-budget Hollywood experiment may be destined for what no one expects, but everyone desires, in baseball:

A happy ending.

Anyhow, he got drilled in the nuts on a pickoff play and Harold Reynolds, who is also awesome, and Eric Byrnes cannot control their laughter.

h/t YouBeenBlinded

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