Nice catch

When the dust cleared after a frantic afternoon of trading, the Red Sox had landed the impact bat they were looking for, shoring up a couple of positions in the process while giving up only one player who figured to help them this season. General manager Theo Epstein said he had aimed a bit higher - Roy Halladay? - as the trade deadline approached, and became a little frustrated when things didn't work out. But still he snagged just what the club needed - Cleveland's 30-year-old Victor Martinez, a three-time All-Star catcher/first baseman. Epstein was able to add Martinez without giving up top prospect Clay Buchholz - only personable reliever Justin Masterson and promising minor league pitchers Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price. Epstein also was able to make a big trade on a day when the Yankees and Rays were unable to upgrade their rosters significantly, as all three teams gear up for what could be a bruising final two months in the AL East. Who knows how this trade with the Indians will tilt in the long term, but for the rest of the season, the swap heavily favors the Red Sox . They needed to bolster what has been a struggling offense while providing some rest for Mike Lowell, who still is feeling the effects of last year's hip surgery, and Jason Varitek, who already has shown signs that the long season is taking its toll. Epstein emphasized that Varitek will continue to be an important part of the club, but the GM envisions the same 50-50 split between catcher and first base for Martinez that the Indians used. Varitek is better defensively and knows the pitching staff, but Martinez, who is signed through this season with a club option for 2010, is seven years younger and a bigger offensive threat. He's a career .297 hitter with some power. He batted mostly third in the Cleveland lineup this season. Both catchers have had similar success (or lack thereof) throwing out base-stealers, and both are switch hitters. Catcher No. 3, George Kottaras, is not a switch hitter. He's still on the team, but there will be a roster move or three today with the arrival of Martinez and Casey Kotchman, who was acquired for Adam LaRoche in a rare swap of left-handed-hitting first basemen. Pitcher Marcus McBeth and outfielder Josh Reddick were brought up last night to replace Masterson and LaRoche, but their stay is expected to be temporary. The Sox roster has been quite fluid lately with Epstein making five trades (including Julio Lugo for Chris Duncan, Mark Kotsay for Brian Anderson, and two minor leaguers for LaRoche) in the last 10 days. Epstein said he made the LaRoche-Kotchman swap because he thought Kotchman was superior defensively and would be more successful in a bench role. Since Kotsay was also a good defender, with the bonus of being an outfielder as well, you wonder why the Sox didn't just keep him and save all the paperwork. Yesterday wasn't about backup first basemen, but about giving the club a boost. Martinez should be able to provide that as long as he breaks out of the slump that has dogged him since late May. He hit .386 in April, but has batted just .193 since May 22 and is .175 in July. His decline could have something to do with the overall malaise that has set in over the last-place Indians. The Sox hope that's all it is, because the last thing they need is another dead bat. Martinez, though, doesn't have a history of second-half fades, a problem that plagues many catchers, including Varitek. The Venezuelan's career batting average and on-base and slugging percentages are actually higher after the All-Star break, though only slightly. Recent struggles or not, Epstein was pleased to have landed one of the big prizes of the trading season. "We think Victor Martinez is a great fit for our club and he provides a significant offensive boost and does it with some versatility that complements our roster really well," Epstein said in a conference call last night. He also was happy to have pulled off the deal without having to give up some of the club's biggest prospects, including Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Michael Bowden, Ryan Westmoreland, Junichi Tazawa, Lars Anderson and Reddick. Still, Hagadone was the 55th pick in the 2007 draft and Price was the 45th selection a year later. Masterson already had made his mark on the big club, going 9-8 with a 3.76 ERA in his two seasons. "This is a special individual," Epstein said of the 6-foot-6 Masterson. "Since he joined the organization, he did nothing but affect people in a positive way." Yesterday, he made one final contribution, helping the Sox land the big bat they were searching for.