[WoolyGoat]

At the time, Ellsbury and Buchholz were still prospects. Pedroia was in the middle of his rookie season, and I believe Lester was in some stage of his lymphoma comeback. That would have been pre-2007 or trading deadline 2007, if I remember the years right.

Since then, the Sox have a world series, and those players have an mvp, a rookie of the year, 2 no-hitters, and back to back 50 steal seasons. Perhaps more importantly, they signed pedroia and lester to VERY club friendly contracts, which has actually allowed them to cut some payroll.

For the first time in a LONG time, the Sox roster is stocked with their own farm guys, as opposed to mostly being highly paid mercenaries.