NOT RICHER, JUST SMARTER:

Helton's Sox interest at Fever Pitch (Michael Silverman, 1/29/07, Boston Herald)

Josh Beckett has been aware for some time that the prospect of Todd Helton getting traded from the Colorado Rockies to the Red Sox [team stats] was at least being discussed.

Having known Helton for a long time and sharing the same agent as the first baseman, the pitcher also was fully aware of how Helton feels about the idea of playing in Boston.

"I know Todd wants to be a Red Sox," Beckett said yesterday by telephone while watching "Fever Pitch" at home. "He's pretty excited about it - at least excited about the chance of it happening." [...]

Sources close to the Red Sox indicated the club is not only unmotivated to tinker with its roster, but also have not yet seen a proposal it would consider serious. That could change, of course, depending on how much of Helton's remaining salary -90.1 million is due during the next six years, including a buyout in 2012 - the Rockies are willing to pay.

While it's generally recognized that the Sox got Dice-K at a price absurdly far below market value and the JD Drew contract compares quite favorably to that of a Bobby Abreu or Carlos Lee, it's generally forgotten that they signed Beckett and David Ortiz to extensions during last season that look like real bargains now. If they were to add an $8 million a year Todd Helton to their line-up they might not only be the best team in baseball but one of the most underpaid--especially if they jettison Mike Lowell and Julian Tavarez in the process.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 29, 2007 12:00 AM