The exodus of players from the ranks of the Boston Red Sox this past Thursday was little surprise to anyone who had watched the team for the opening four months of this Major League Baseball season.

With a lineup that has largely failed to fire and a pitching staff that has been for the most part woefully inconsistent, the 2013 World Series champions entered July 31, also known as trade deadline day, with a record of 48-60. That’s 11 games behind the American League East-leading Baltimore Orioles and, according to the baseball stats website Fangraphs.com, the Sox have a 0.1 percent chance of making the playoffs.

As a result, it was clear that the Red Sox would be sellers, trading away pieces to contending teams, and receiving back assets that are designed to help Boston not for the rest of this season, but in the years ahead.

But little did anyone know just how much the Sox would sell as they made an extraordinary four trades in one short six-hour period, sending away starting pitchers Jon Lester and John Lackey, reliever Andrew Miller, outfielder Jonny Gomes and shortstop Stephen Drew.

Along with deals earlier in the week that had also sent away starting pitchers Felix Doubront and Jake Peavy, it was one of the most remarkable raisings of the white flag in MLB history.

It can, has been and will be argued whether or not the Red Sox got the better of the deals, Was what they received in return worth what they gave away? And just like nearly every trade in sports history, only time, and not speculation, will be the true indicator for that.

But the trades, specifically one, signified a larger trend in Boston, and one that should worry and possibly even anger fans. By trading away Lester ”“ widely thought of as a top-10 pitcher in all of baseball and one of the better pitchers in postseason history, the guy who was the ace and the backbone of the 2013 championship team ”“ Boston was trading away possibly its most valuable asset and leaving its already struggling pitching staff rudderless, both for this season and next.

And the worst part for Red Sox fans is, it didn’t have to come to this.

With Lester’s contract up at the end of this season, he’d made several hints that he’d be willing to give the Red Sox a discount in his next contract, taking less money than he might receive in free agency to stay with the Red Sox ”“ the only professional organization he’s ever known.

Now, the very fact that the Red Sox, a team that mints money due to sky-high ticket prices, would need a discount is absolutely ridiculous, but that’s another editorial.

So with all of Lester’s goodwill toward the organization, the Red Sox management, of course, decided to try to low-ball him, offering him a four-year deal worth $70 million, or less than half what he can expect to make on an open market.

It was, in short, a very public insult, and Lester rightly took it as such, soon thereafter refusing to negotiate until after the end of this season. To be even shorter, it was for Boston a very public disaster, odd for a team that at times has seemed more interested in winning the public relations battle than winning games on the field.

That was the first step in an ordeal that lasted until Thursday, when Gomes and Lester were sent to the Oakland A’s, the team with the best record in all of baseball, in return for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

Whether or not Cespedes is a fair return remains to be seen. Boston will say it needed more power from its outfield, which is fair enough as Cespedes’s 17 home runs is more than all of Boston’s other outfielders combined.

However, one home run a week from Cespedes, a Cuban defector in his third MLB season who so far is most known for winning back-to-back home run derbies, doesn’t quite equate with losing a pitcher of Lester’s quality.

The fact that Cespedes owns a .250 batting average and an on-base percentage hovering around .300 ”“ along with below-average defensive numbers even by advanced defensive metrics ”“ would seem to suggest he’s a bigger marketing star than baseball star; but, again, knowing the Red Sox, they might not actually mind that.

More than just the numbers, however, the trade itself showed an inherent lack of a plan, and a lack of reasoning.

To explain, the reason Boston traded Lester, at least they say, is his age. At 30 years old, he is starting to near the second half of his career, and committing six years and a lot of money to a starting pitcher of that age is something the Red Sox are hesitant to do, which is understandable if there is some kind of plan to replace him.

However, Cespedes isn’t a pitcher, and he will be the same age of 30 when his contract is up after next season, when he will also be seeking a long-term deal. Not only is Cespedes not nearly as valuable as Lester, he also doesn’t have as good a track-record, meaning signing him deep into his 30s carries even more risk.

So by the Red Sox’ own logic, they likely won’t sign Cespedes after next season due to his age, meaning they have just traded away their most valuable asset in Lester (who again, was willing to give them a discount on his deal) for eight months of a far lesser player.

Even worse, Boston has little in the way of starting pitching for next season, sans a group of unproven prospects, and seems unlikely to go after the high-priced free agents due to cost ”“ including Lester, who despite being free to sign with any team after this season is about as likely to be in the Boston rotation next year as Roger Clemens. All in all, it doesn’t bode well for the Red Sox next season and beyond.

So despite receiving plaudits for getting back a fair haul of Major League players like Cespedes in the fire sale that was last Thursday, in the larger picture of things, losing a pitcher like Lester ”“ for no real reason at all ”“ made it a dark day in a dark summer in Boston, one the Red Sox may come to regret.

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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Writer Cameron Dunbar on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.

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