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On July 31, 2004, the Boston Red Sox made perhaps the most important trade in team history, sending single-A outfielder Matt Murton and team icon Nomar Garciaparra away and getting Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera in return.  Garciaparra and Cabrera, both of them shortstops, were seen as the main pieces in the deal.  Now, four and a half seasons later, after signing on consecutive days, the two biggest pieces of the most important trade in Red Sox history are teammates -- with the Oakland Athletics.

At the time of the trade, Garciaparra was seen as the superior player.  He was a former batting champion and MVP candidate.  He was the face of the franchise that had come one terrible managerial decision away from the World Series just nine months earlier.  Cabrera, on the other hand, had been playing for the lowly Montreal Expos.  He was known as a slick fielder, but he wasn't considered to be the franchise player that Nomar was.  He was, however, supposed to improve -- with Mientkiewicz -- what GM Theo Epstein saw as a fatal flaw in his team: its defense.

The trade became easier to make because Nomar was becoming a distraction in the clubhouse.  He had almost been traded during the previous off-season, which led to his becoming miserable.  He didn't trust the front office and became paranoid in regards to them.  His contract was up at the end of the year and there were grumblings that he may not be healthy enough to play the rest of the season (sound familiar?).  So the Red Sox traded him away and picked up O.C., who appeared to fit in nicely with his new teammates and helped the Red Sox win their first World Series title in 86 years.  They then chose not to re-sign him, possibly because he was, ironically enough, not a good clubhouse presence (While this has only been rumored, the fact that he is going to be playing for his fourth team in six years may lend credence to the rumors).  This began, just a few months after the trade of their franchise shortstop, the team's revolving door at the position that continues to this day.

In direct contrast to 2004, this time, Cabrera is considered the superior player.  This is evidenced by their expected roles on their new team, where O.C. is expected to become the A's everyday shortstop, while Nomar is only expected to be a utility guy or to possibly platoon against lefties.  Nomar could get more playing time if some of the A's injury-prone regulars -- Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis come to mind -- miss any time, although this means he would also have to stay healthy.  His health is certainly no given, as injuries have derailed what once appeared to be a Hall of Fame career.  Regardless of the health of his new teammates, Cabrera is going to play regularly.  Garciaparra is going to need a bit more luck.

The player who is losing out the most from these signings is Bobby Crosby, who had been the A's shortstop but is now without an everyday job.  It was also in that 2004 season when Crosby burst onto the scene, winning the AL Rookie of the Year award.  Following this and an even better 2005 campaign, many expected him to be the next great young shortstop, as Nomar had been just a few years earlier.  But his career nosedived as he also had some injury problems and now he finds himself getting replaced, as Nomar was, by Cabrera.

Of course, depending upon how the season goes (and if he remains with the team), the starting shortstop position on the Oakland A's could be filled by Bobby Crosby once again in a year's time.  I wouldn't count on it, but it could happen.  This is because, as has become fairly standard this off-season, both O.C. and Nomar signed only one-year deals.  It could end up being a short stop in Oakland for both of them (get it? Ok, I'm sorry).

In the end, it's unfortunate that Murton, who actually played for the A's last year, was traded to the Rockies about a month ago.  It would have been nice to have seen three of the four, or possibly even all four (Mientkiewicz was also a free agent before signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers) players involved in the Red Sox aspects of that 2004 trade united on this A's team, which many are considering a sleeper to win the AL West.  Still, having the two main players from the most important trade in Red Sox history on the same team will be nice.  When I watch an A's game this year and see Nomar and O.C. playing next to each other in the infield, it will make me think back to the 2004 season.  And to a lifelong Red Sox fan like me, anything that makes me think of that season is a good thing.

P.S. Is it sad that I didn't have to look up how to spell Mientkiewicz?