You know what? Forget what I said.

So, I think I'm starting to soften on the Crisp/Riske/Crap for Marte/Shoppach/Mota deal, and here is why:

Crisp for Marte: young, known quantity coming into his prime for a younger, unknown quantity with a hell of a lot of potential
Riske for Mota: Both variables, with Riske younger and has had more good years
Shoppach for Crap: loss in power and potentially defense, but more major league experience

So, basically, with Crisp and Crap, we are giving up potential, and that is potential with more upside, for a bit more of a known quantity. And that is what you kind of have to do some times. As for Riske for Mota, that works out in the Sox favor, with upside coming back our way. So, really, it isn't that big a loss. Sure, Marte has the potential to be the next Mike Schmidt, then again he has the potential to be a huge bust, as well. Personally, I see him being a solid 3B, but not necessarily a world beater. If I had to take a guess, I would say he more likely makes 2 all-star games in his career, and he puts together a solid career, but not hall-worthy one that some people seem to think . Sure, that is a lot to give up, but then again we are getting a solid, young center-fielder with very few question marks and several years of service due before he hits the free agent market. Basically, I think I might have been too excited about the potential Marte has, and not rationally thought about the fact that perhaps his potential would never be realized.

Also, it is not as if this depletes the Sox farm system, which is something to remember. In addition to Paplebon likely seeing a lot of time, we still have very solid prospects in our system in Lester, Pedroia, Murphy, Hansen, Delcarmen, Lowrie, Ellsbury, Moss, and possibly Pinckney. Throw in that the front office (i.e. Theo) is the same one who drafted all those guys, and hopefully will continue the strong drafting they have done in the future, we need to remember that, despite giving up Ramiriz, Sanchez, Shoppach, and Marte during this offseason, we still are strong in young talent. Are all those guys in our system going to pan out? No, but neither are the ones we gave up, and at least we are getting young, relatively cheap proven quantities for some other teams to find out if the players we gave up are really that good. Meanwhile, we are coming out of this offseason with Josh Beckett and probably Coco Crisp for several more years. And remember, Beckett is about the same age as Paplebon, and Crisp is the same age as Shoppach. So it isn't like we are getting older veterans on the downsides of their careers. Sure, we've probably lost a bit of upside potential from our farm system, especially with the Crisp trade, but we gained a lot more in known major league quantities for relatively cheap salaries.

PS- Think of this team's defense: Gold Gloves at C, 3B, 1B, and close to it at 2B and SS (assuming Gonzalez signs as reported). Meanwhile Coco is currently younger and faster than Damon in CF with a much better arm (by default). Okay, our corner outfielders are an adventure (expect to see a lot of Adam Stern in the late innings), but that is still going to be a pretty solid defense now. No more Edgar "E6" Renteria.