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In a day and age when a minor league player can be traded for 10 baseball bats it can be difficult to see what's coming next.

What if that guy turned out to be the next David Price (trust me, Tampa's Golden Boy has arrived)?

O.K. so most of us don't expect that to happen to any of our favorite team's players but it does happen... Alright so this exact instance is a bit out of the ordinary, but I'm hoping most of you understand where I going with this.

In November of 2005 the Hot Stove season reached its pinnacle when the Red Sox traded prized propects Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez to the Florida Marlins for the soon-to-be Yankee Killer Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell.

At the time of the deal many believed Lowell and Beckett were headed in opposite directions career wise. Truth be told no one, including even the most diehard Sox fan, could've predicted the kind of rejuvination Lowell has had in Boston.

Beckett has at times been the number one starter the Red Sox were hoping to acquire. But have his overall statistics been worthy of the guy he was traded for? A quick look at the numbers:

In his three years in Boston Beckett has had only one season in which he had one of the top 10 ERAs in the AL and only one season in which he ranked in the top 10 for Wins in the AL. To Beckett's credit the last two seasons he has ranked inside the top 10 for K's in the AL. He's also never even been close to the top 10 in ANY of his seasons with Boston in Innings Pitched.

So now we have our case against, but don't worry you cave dwelling Sox fans it hasn't been all bad in the Land of Sox Nation; it was Beckett's pitching in the 2007 postseason that led the team to its second WS title in three years. He also finished second in the CY Young voting that year falling behind CC Sabathia.

In that same time span lets take a quick look at what Hanley Ramirez has done in his young career.

HR has ranked inside the top 10 in Runs scored in the NL in all three years since coming to the Marlins and the majors, including first and second place finishes in 2008 and 2007, respectively. He also ranked inside the top 10 in hits in the NL in two out of the three years. One of HR's greatest assets is his speed which has helped him into the top ten in SB in all three of the his years with the Marlins. Ramirez, though, does have the tendency to strike out. He has struck out at least 90 times in all three seasons on the major circuit.

Another case for Ramirez, however, is his age (he just turned 25 on December 23), and that's not to say Beckett isn't on the right side of 30, but he is closer to his peak age. Ramirez has shown and will continue to improve over the next several years. His numbers suggest he is definitely capable of having a 40-40-40 (homeruns, stolen bases, and doubles). To be honest I think this guy has a God's honest chance to be the first player ever to go for 50-50.

So here it is... It's not like Theo Epstein could've known he was sitting on a goldmine of talent, right? I mean the translation from the minors to the big leagues isn't an exact science; some players have what it takes and others are destined to be role players.

SI reported that after the Yankees won out on the Teixeira sweepstakes the Red Sox turned to the Marlins to inquire about the availibility of one Hanley Ramirez.

Some interesting players have been named like Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz. Even as a Yankees fan, here's to hoping Theo doesn't make the same mistake twice.

He could be sitting on a goldmine.