The Red Sox have not been discussing the idea of trading Carl Crawford. (AP)

DALLAS — The last time the winter meetings were in Dallas after the 2005 season, a Red Sox front office in a state of transition enacted a head-spinning deal. At a time when GM Theo Epstein had left the organization, a front-office-by-committee made the bold decision to trade away shortstop Edgar Renteria just one poor season into a four-year, $40 million contract. In order to shed the shortstop and acquire prospect Andy Marte, the Sox committed to paying $11 million of Renteria’s remaining salary.

It was a stunning move given the high regard in which the Sox had held Renteria when they signed him and the fact that the team had reached the decision that it was time to dump him after just one year.

Given that precedent, it was at least intriguing to wonder whether the Red Sox might once again stun the baseball world and, one difficult season into the seven-year, $142 million deal that was reached a year ago, try to deal away outfielder Carl Crawford.

In a word: No. Read the rest of this entry »

In case you haven’t been up on the news, Andy Marte is still with the Cleveland Indians … barely.

Marte, of course, was the guy the Red Sox traded Edgar Renteria for, and then subsequently shipped to Cleveland as one of the centerpieces in the deal involving Coco Crisp. Well, last week he was placed on waivers by the Indians, allowing any team to pluck him for the mere cost of a spot on the 40-man roster. No team — not one — deemed the 25-year-old worthy of such a move, sending him back to Cleveland, which placed him on the roster of their Triple A team in Columbus.

If you remember correctly, when then Red Sox decision-maker Bill Lajoie (Theo Epstein was on his hiatus much of the offseason leading into 2006) stepped to the podium at the winter meetings in Dallas the praise for the Sox’ acquisition from the Braves overflowed. These were two quotes from Lajoie at the time: Read the rest of this entry »