The three-team deal that sent Choo to Cincinnati was intriguing and complex.
Boston Red Sox's Jacoby Ellsbury is available in a trade, but moving him to another team for adequate return may not be so easy.
Scarcely a day goes by without another imaginary scenario being raised for the trade that may not happen.
The Red Sox would consider trading Jacoby Ellsbury. Some signs, in fact, point to their shopping him to little avail.
Hate to say I told you so, but an Ellsbury trade will be measured not by Boston's enthusiasm to do it, but by the appeal it holds to other teams.
At least one, the Phillies, said no to an Ellsbury-for-Cliff Lee deal.
Now comes the big trade that sent Shin-Soo Choo from Cleveland to Cincinnati. Efforts are being made to measure Ellsbury's trade value in relation to Choo, and the findings suggest the Red Sox cannot count on a gold mine of talent in return for their outfielder.
The three-team trade between the Reds, Indians and Diamondbacks is complex, enough so that drawing conclusions from it about Ellsbury are inherently flawed. Ellsbury and Choo each have a year left on their contracts, and each are represented by agent Scott Boras, who marches his clients into free agency the moment he can.
One drawback this creates for Ellsbury trade is apparent: by acquiring Choo, the Reds have taken themselves out of any consideration they might go after Ellsbury.
The trade was interesting from a lot of angles. The Indians wound up with four players, including former first-round draft pick Trevor Bauer and Matt Albers, a veteran reliever.
In Albers, Cleveland manager Terry Francona is reunited with another former Red Sox player. In Bauer, the Indians picked up a potential top-of-the-rotation pitching star for the future
It is becoming clear that trading Ellsbury, which still possible, will not be so easy as sending out emails that he's available, and waiting for the line to form at the door.
The guess here is that he starts the year in Boston. From the Red Sox perspective, that is not be such a bad thing if the alternative is a mediocre return for him.
On another Red Sox front, the Nick Swisher fandango continues. NESN.com sees Swisher as a nice fit to a Red Sox lineup that could use his patient batting style.
The Red Sox have picked up players this offseason who like to work the count. That hasn't been a theme of the headlines, but of all the new players, only Shane Victorino is not known for plate patience, as NESN points out.
Victorino is far from a reckless hitter, either. Will Swisher's patience be worth a contract of more than three years, as he wants? We shall see.