The Padres wanted CF Jacoby Ellsbury, SP Clay Buccholz and one of our top three prospects (Anderson/Westmorland/Kelly). That was WAY too much to give up.

With Beltre we keep those players and only have to move one to make room for him. The good news for you Seattle fans is that we’re moving that player to the Mariners.

Casey Kotchman, one of my favorites in Boston is heading to the great Northwest for a minor leaguer. Kotch is not only a good first baseman and decent hitter but also just a great guy to have in your clubhouse. While I’ll miss him, I’m happy he’ll get the chance to play every day instead of being a reserve utility infielder for us.

Let’s all hope these moves help everyone involved. ;o)

Beltre did nothing but play hard while he was a Mariner. I just wish he wants to be a Mariner more than he wants to play for Boston, because he’s the best third baseman the team has ever had.

I love Beltre, but you’re forgetting a guy who has a street named after him outside the stadium. Sure, he spent most of his career as a DH, but he did play 563 games as a 3B.

Good decision by him perhaps on a personal level (and maybe for the M’s?), but I don’t have to feel good about the basic lack of loyalty.

You have a very extreme and unrealistic definition of loyalty, and I think it’s going to leave you disappointed with a lot of things. Like a guy I used to know who always wanted people to just give him stuff, the problem here isn’t with the rest of the world, it’s with your distorted expectations.

As much as we like to fool ourselves into thinking it’s no longer an issue, there is an undercurrent of subtle racial discrimination that permeates throughout the fanbase

Unfortunately I think you’re right (and it was reflected in the team being the last to integrate, though skipping on the chance at Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson and indeed on any black free agent until 1993 may have helped them achieve that 86 year record of futility).

This will be a factor with Cameron too, and it saddens me to think of Cammie as Red Sox maybe even more than Beltre, especially as he closes out his career. On the other hand, this is the kind of thing that can only be fixed by time and example so Beltre and Cameron get the thankless job of contributing to that.

Anyway I’m definitely glad Beltre didn’t end up with the Angels.

Does this mean that Adrian’s biggest fan, Red, now follows him to Boston?

Well, I don’t think he’s so big a fan that he’d actually relocate. The real question is probably: are we going to see Red featured prominently at the games when the Sox come to Safeco, and/or will he find a new (Mariner) target for his affections? If he sticks with Beltre, I hope he at least wears his Dominican jersey rather than a disgusting new BoSox one.

I hope Figgins can do half of what Beltre could do at third. I get the feeling that every time Figgins doesn’t make a play, I’ll be thinking that Beltre would have done it in his sleep.

Yeah, there will be some of that (of course Beltre didn’t get to every ball either — it was really his remarkably strong and unfailingly accurate throws after a catch, often while falling away from the infield, that should be the stuff of legend). Then again, every time Figgins watches a low-and-away pitch go by I’ll be thinking Beltre would’ve swung at that as if he was asleep (and dreaming he had longer arms, or something). I am going to miss this though (and I look forward to a lot of oblivious Boston fans asking why he “just started” doing it).

Had to give it to Adrian though for his defense and his toughness. Cannot dispute those attributes. But after watching him for his career here, I don’t think those attributes are worth the money for this organization.

He’s a great fit for the RedSox, they won’t need to hit him above 6th in the lineup, and they can afford to have a guy like him on their roster.

In Boston he will be known as a great defensive 3B who will hit some home runs. And he’ll be appreciated for that. Not like here, where we all wanted him to be an All-Star both in the field and at the plate.