The Dodgers are on the verge of completing what would be one of the most spectacular trades in their history, a nine-player waiver deal with the Boston Red Sox in which they would acquire former All-Stars Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett. 
 
 The agreed-upon trade, in which Gonzalez was viewed as the centerpiece, is revolutionary from a financial standpoint. The Dodgers are expected to be taking on more than $260 million in salary obligations, a staggering amount considering Crawford recently underwent elbow surgery and Beckett appears to be far removed from his best days. 
 
 In addition to Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett, the Dodgers will get veteran utility infielder Nick Punto, according to four people familiar with the details of the trade. The Dodgers will send the Red Sox a package that includes first baseman James Loney and four minor leaguers: right-handers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, outfielder Jerry Sands and infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. 
 
 In the 30-year-old Gonzalez, the Dodgers will receive more than a player who not only can be an offensive anchor for several years. Gonzalez is bilingual and of Mexican heritage, which could energize the Dodgers' largely Latino fan base. 
 
 Miami Marlins reliever Heath Bell played with Gonzalez on the San Diego Padres. Gonzalez was with the Padres from 2006-2010. 
 
 "You're going to get a class act," Bell said. "He definitely doesn't have Derek Jeter's name, but everybody says Derek Jeter is a class act, and Adrian is right up there. He's a hard worker. He's great in the community. He tries to help out the Hispanic community — but not just the Hispanic community, every community. He runs a lot of fundraisers. The community will love him." 
 
 The trade has to be completed by 10:30 a.m. Pacific time Sunday, which is 48 hours after the Dodgers were awarded a waiver claim on Gonzalez. But the deal is expected to be finalized before then, perhaps as early as Saturday morning. 
 
 There are minor issues to be resolved. 
 
 Crawford and Beckett have to approve the deal, which they are expected to do. Crawford can block a trade to the Dodgers, who are one of the teams listed on his limited no-trade clause. Beckett has more than 10 years of major league service time, including the last five with the same team, meaning he can veto any move. 
 
 Also, because the Red Sox are sending about $10million to the Dodgers, the deal must be approved by the commissioner's office. 
 
 The framework was in place even before the Red Sox placed Gonzalez on trade waivers Wednesday. 
 
 A four-time All-Star first baseman, Gonzalez was the prize in the deal. The Dodgers inquired about him leading up to the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline and approached the Red Sox again after a failed attempt to land Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau last week. 
 
 Although Gonzalez is owed $127 million over the next six seasons, the Red Sox wanted the Dodgers to do more than unburden them of his contract. The Red Sox also demanded they take the bloated contracts of outfielder Crawford and starting pitcher Beckett. Out of contention, he Red Sox were looking to get under the luxury tax threshold and improve their team for future seasons. 
 
 Crawford, who has endured two injury-plagued seasons in Boston, is owed $102.5 million from 2013-2017. The controversial Beckett, who has a 5.23 earned-run average, will earn $15.75 million in both 2013 and 2014. 
 
 Crawford and Punto cleared waivers earlier in the month, which allowed the Red Sox to trade them to any team. 
 
 But for the Dodgers to acquire Gonzalez and Beckett, they would have to be awarded waiver claims on them. For that to happen, every team in the American League and every team in the National League with a record worse than theirs would have to pass on them. 
 
 Beckett was a sure bet to reach the Dodgers on waivers. His performance, coupled with his contract, made him undesirable. 
 
 There was one small complication. De La Rosa was claimed by a team other than the Red Sox, believed to be the Toronto Blue Jays. The Dodgers withdrew De La Rosa from waivers and sent him to double-A Chattanooga (Tenn.). De La Rosa will be sent to the Red Sox after the season. 
 
 dylan.hernandez@latimes.com ||||| Forget for a second the notion of a baseball trade that helps both clubs. 
 
 How about a trade that's equally toxic for both parties? 
 
 As the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox complete a trade of such blockbuster proportions it'd make Michael Bay blush, we wonder if each club took a step back and asked: 
 
 Is this good for the company? 
 
 It's easy to understand both franchises' motivations for making the deal. 
 
 The Dodgers, with new managing general partner Mark Walter showing he's the real Magic man of this ownership group, are ready to powerwash the grim final days of the Frank McCourt era, papering over the embarrassment of a bankrupt franchise with wads of cash and shiny new players. 
 
 The Red Sox, ravaged by tens of millions of dollars of injured personnel, embarrassed by clubhouse chicken 'n beer, rogue text messages to ownership and a manager who seems as bad a fit for the Hub as many imagined, are all too eager to hit the reset button. 
 
 Done: Sox, Dodgers finish blockbuster 
 
 So sending Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett (and the $261 million owed them) along with Nick Punto (congrats, you're now a trivia question!) to the Dodgers gives the Red Sox a new life. And rolling the dice on unproven but intriguing talents such as pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster and outfielder Jerry Sands may yield a big return. 
 
 And if you're a Dodger fan, it's hard not to salivate over the notion of an offensively-dysfunctional club having one of baseball's great run-producers in Gonzalez bracketed by Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Or the production potential of a star-studded and utterly athletic outfield manned by a healthy Crawford, Kemp and Ethier, all signed through at least 2017. 
 
 But let's stop looking at this through a sepia-toned lens for just a second and ponder what's not good. 
 
 First, the Red Sox. 
 
 General manager Ben Cherington may very well be seen as a conquering hero by dumping the $32 million owed an embattled Beckett the next two seasons, along with the $103 million due the suddenly brittle Crawford and the $127 million Gonzalez will get through 2018. 
 
 But the Red Sox, with their two World Series titles last decade (and that seems a long time ago, yeah?), are playing in a market big on expectations and short on patience. Taking TNT to the roster is a great thing, but only if an organization has the time and space to build things back up properly. 
 
 In Boston, that ain't happening. 
 
 So while it's great that the Red Sox would be shedding the absurdly awful Crawford contract, ridding an apparent clubhouse scourge in Beckett and at the least the proverbial "bad fit in Boston" in Gonzalez, it does create one problem. 
 
 There is no middle of the order. 
 
 Gonzalez, though his power numbers have been in some decline, would be no small loss. He didn't turn into the monster many predicted hitting at Fenway Park, but he did produce a .957 OPS in an MVP-caliber 2011, and despite a lackluster 2012 campaign, he still is a .300 hitter this year in a season of poor health and many distractions. 
 
 Take away his automatic 30-homer, 100-RBI production and what do you have? 
 
 An outstanding young hitter in Will Middlebrooks, and no one around him. 
 
 So, remember all that cash the Red Sox just saved? 
 
 Well, they better go out and lavish much it upon Josh Hamilton, whose leverage skyrockets with this deal. 
 
 And here's the biggest problem with dealing Gonzalez: He's a relative bargain. 
 
 Gonzalez agreed to a seven-year, $154 million contract extension in December 2011. Since then, the game's financial landscape has undergone a Jenner-esque alteration. 
 
 Albert Pujols extracted $240 million from the Los Angeles Angels. Joey Votto was guaranteed an additional quarter-billion dollars by the Cincinnati Reds. 
 
 And now, the Red Sox must venture into this market for a power hitter, suddenly the scarcest commodity in the game. 
 
 Hamilton is the only legitimate bopper available this offseason. He is well in position to make Gonzalez's contract look like chump change. 
 
 And he would come with the caveats of a body that sends him to the disabled list at least once every year, as well as the specter of his addiction history. 
 
 Good fit in Boston? Yeah, maybe Gonzalez doesn't look so bad now. 
 
 And as for the Dodgers? 
 
 Well, it's true that any sun-splashed day at Chavez Ravine is all the brighter when Frank McCourt doesn't own the team. But it's almost like Walter and Co. are taking the club back to the pre-McCourt days, when Fox owned the Dodgers. 
 
 That era actually was less successful than the McCourt Era, marked by bad contracts (Kevin Brown, $105 million) and the lack of a cohesive plan. 
 
 Which begs the question: What, exactly, is the Dodgers' plan? 
 
 General manager Ned Colletti, who is assured of having a job exactly as long as a Mitt Romney campaign employee, seems to be throwing players and money around as if this were the be-all, end-all season for the Dodgers. 
 
 Let's just take Beckett and Hanley Ramirez, who the Dodgers acquired July 25. Two guys in decline who had on-field and clubhouse issues in their most recent stops. Suddenly, it's good business to deal prospects and take on the roughly $63 million for two seasons of Beckett and Ramirez? 
 
 It should be noted the Dodgers were 53-46 and 2 1/2 games out of first when they dealt for Ramirez. Since then: 14-12 and 2 1/2 games out of first. 
 
 And as for Crawford? Well, congratulations Barry Zito! You no longer have the worst contract in the National League West. Crawford, who had Tommy John elbow surgery Thursday and may not be ready for the start of next season, will earn at least $20 million for the next five seasons, bringing in $21 million in 2017, when he's 35. 
 
 If Fenway Park did a number on his offensive production, just wait 'til he tries hitting at Dodger Stadium. 
 
 And that's ultimately where this is a bad fit. 
 
 Crawford-Kemp-Gonzalez-Ramirez-Ethier make for a nifty 2-6 in the lineup. In 2013, they'll also make a combined $90 million. 
 
 That's more than halfway to baseball's luxury tax threshold of $178 million for five players -- one coming off elbow surgery. 
 
 And that's without paying a single dollar toward a pitcher. 
 
 Trouble is, pitching still rules in the NL West. And while the Dodgers have one of the best in Clayton Kershaw, the next four of Beckett, Chad Billingsley, Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang won't exactly send San Francisco Giants fans crying into their glasses of Pinot Noir. 
 
 Oh, and by the way, Mr. Walter: Do you still have a spare $160 million lying around for Mr. Kershaw in 2015? 
 
 Hey dude, if you wanna skyrocket past the luxury tax time and again, good on you. But collecting aging and wildly expensive malcontents isn't exactly the most progressive way to go about building a franchise. 
 
 Surely Walter can spare the $1.30 to Redbox a copy of Moneyball one of these nights? 
 
 Maybe he ought to do just that this weekend, before another urge to spend wildly strikes and paints his club into an inflexible corner both from a roster and payroll standpoint. 
 
 Which brings us to another old baseball saw: Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. ||||| The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers have completed one of the biggest trades in the long, storied histories of each franchise, and the biggest in Beantown since Babe Ruth was shipped to the New York Yankees. 
 
 The blockbuster nine-player deal, involving more than $270 million in moving salaries and an immeasurable amount of culture change for both clubs, has been completed, the clubs finishing just before Saturday's 1:30 p.m. ET deadline to consummate the waiver deal. 
 
 Headed from Fenway Park to Chavez Ravine: first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, pitcher Josh Beckett, outfielder Carl Crawford, infielder Nick Punto and about $12 million in cash. 
 
 Going from Los Angeles to Boston: first baseman James Loney - who is eligible for free agency after this season - young pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, infielder Ivan DeJesus Jr. and outfielder Jerry Sands. 
 
 Analysis: A bad deal for both sides? 
 
 Gonzalez will be in the lineup tonight at Dodger Stadium, clad in the No. 23 once worn by Kirk Gibson, against the Miami Marlins. 
 
 In supplanting Loney, he gives the Dodgers a menacing presence in the middle of the order to pair with Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. But coming with him are the toxic contracts of Crawford (owed $103 million through 2017) and Beckett ($32 million in 2013 and '14), who struggled with injuries, poor performance and the occasional controversy the past two seasons in Boston. 
 
 The Red Sox, meanwhile, get massive financial relief and a chance to re-formulate the chemistry in a clubhouse gone foul the past two seasons. 
 
 It also is a stunning bit of backpedaling less than two seasons after they signed Crawford and traded for Gonzalez, guaranteeing both $294 million. 
 
 The Red Sox will fail to make the playoffs in both seasons with Crawford and Gonzalez. And it is the latter's acquisition that may haunt the Red Sox's efforts to rebuild. 
 
 To acquire Gonzalez in December 2011, the Red Sox sent top-shelf prospects in first baseman Anthony Rizzo and pitcher Casey Kelly to the San Diego Padres. Rizzo since has blossomed into a crucial part of the Chicago Cubs' rebuilding efforts. 
 
 Both Rizzo and Kelly were drafted under the previous collective bargaining agreement's draft rules, in which clubs such as Boston could lavish large signing bonuses on hard-to-sign players later in the draft. Now, Boston's farm system is bereft of top-shelf prospects, and it won't be able to flex its financial might in the amateur arena as it once did. 
 
 But they do gain the chance to redo their payroll, roster and clubhouse. 
 
 The Dodgers, meanwhile, just completed a huge revamp, amid the heat of a pennant race rather than the slightly more calculating period of the offseason. 
 
 They are 2 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. And only Gonzalez represents a true, immediate upgrade in their 2012 playoff quest. 
 
 Crawford is out for this season, and perhaps the start of 2013, after having Tommy John elbow surgery Thursday. While Beckett may get a boost moving from the American League to the more pitcher-friendly NL West, his 5.23 ERA and enduring struggles hardly make him an upgrade over the Dodgers' current rotation. 
 
 But the mere upgrade of Gonzalez over Loney -- 15 home runs and an .812 on-base plus slugging compared to four and .646 -- can't be underestimated in the short term. 
 
 And the bigger-picture specter of this deal is that new managing partner Mark Walter -- forget Magic Johnson for a minute -- appears willing to spend until the Dodgers are winners. 
 
 Walter spent $2.15 billion on the team. However, the Dodgers are cable TV free agentsand could command upward of $5 billion in their next local broadcast deal. 
 
 So expect much, much more of the same in coming years, particularly since the Dodgers, as currently constructed, are a flawed club with a fallow farm system. 
 
 And if they become the Evil Empire West? Well, that's OK with manager Don Mattingly. 
 
 "Are you playing within the rules? That's what I always looked at," Mattingly, a Yankees legend, told the Los Angeles Times. "They used to say all that about the Yankees. If you don't like it, change the rules. 
 
 "It was kind of a little rock show. Everywhere you went, you caused that little buzz. That's the way the Dodgers should be. I'll be honest with you: To me, when the Dodgers come to town, it should be THE DODGERS." ||||| Boston Red Sox players blasted manager Bobby Valentine to owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino during a heated meeting called after a text message was sent by a group of frustrated players to the team and ownership in late July, three sources familiar with the meeting told Yahoo! Sports. 
 
 The owners called the meeting for Boston's off-day in New York on July 26 after first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, texting on behalf of himself and some teammates, aired their dissatisfaction with Valentine for embarrassing starting pitcher Jon Lester by leaving him in to allow 11 runs during a July 22 start. It was the latest incident in a season's worth of bad relations bubbling between Red Sox players and Valentine. 
 
 Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were among the most vocal in the meeting, in which some players stated flatly they no longer wanted to play for Valentine, the sources said. The tenor of the 2 p.m. meeting at The Palace hotel in New York turned ugly almost immediately, according to the sources, whom Yahoo! Sports granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about internal matters. 
 
 Not all of the Red Sox players attended the meeting, the sources said, highlighting the chasm that exists not only between some players and Valentine but among players in the clubhouse. The perception that Valentine is being scapegoated unfairly to divert attention from mediocre performances by star players exists among some players, according to sources. 
 
 Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington confirmed the meeting. Although he declined to provide specifics about what was said, he told Yahoo! Sports: "The intent of the meeting was to provide a forum for people to express whatever frustration needed to be expressed at a time during the season when things were not going exactly the way we wanted to on the field in hopes that we could put whatever issues were there aside and focus on playing games the rest of the season. That was the intent of the meeting. That was the focus of ownership. It was a productive meeting. 
 
 Story Continues 
 
 "Since then, we have not gone on the run we were supposed to." 
 
 Ownership has not wavered in its support of Valentine since the meeting, and the sources said players have accepted that Valentine will remain manager for at least the rest of the season. The Red Sox doubled down on Valentine over the last week despite the perception that his first year as Boston manager has been an abject failure. Boston, with an opening day payroll of $173.2 million, is 57-59 and sits 11 games back of the first-place Yankees and 5½ behind the second wild card. The Red Sox's last sub-.500 season was in 1997. 
 
 Eight days ago, besieged by questions about Valentine's present and future, Red Sox general manager Cherington told reporters: "Bobby is our manager, and we're not considering anyone else. He's as committed to managing the team as he ever has been, and we're committed to him and trying to do everything we can to support him and make this work." 
 
 [Also: Tim Brown: Angels could miss playoffs if pitching doesn't improve] 
 
 Henry emailed a statement to Boston media members that echoed the sentiment. 
 
 "To blame Bobby Valentine for the Red Sox being .500 at this point in the season," he wrote, "is simply wrong." 
 
 Some of the Red Sox's biggest names disagree. 
 
 Issues that have inflamed players range far and wide. Leaving in Lester, a well-respected figure in the clubhouse, to get blasted for 11 runs and four home runs against Toronto soured players already beaten down by Valentine's managerial style. Valentine uttering "Nice inning, kid" to rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks after he made a defensive blunder – an episode to which Valentine admitted on WEEI radio – only furthered the animus toward the 62-year-old, who is managing in the major leagues for the first time since 2002. Since spring training, players have chafed at Valentine's careless – and occasionally self-serving – interactions with the Boston media, which his predecessor, Terry Francona, handled adroitly. 
 
 "I don't think it's that uncommon for complaints to be made during the season," Cherington told Yahoo! Sports. "I'm not going to comment specifically on those complaints. Our owners felt, given where we were at that time in the season, given the collective frustration, we had not accomplished what we wanted to. It was time to get together and hash things out. There were no ultimatums issued. There were concerns expressed. Some very positive things expressed, too. We felt that it was an opportunity to get things off people's chests and move forward." 
 
 From the beginning of the Red Sox's courtship of Valentine this offseason to the double-barreled votes of confidence last week, the match of the hard-nosed Bobby V with the laissez-faire Boston clubhouse seemed tenuous at best. It has proven far worse, personified best perhaps by a picture circulating around via text message, according to a fourth source. 
 
 Pedroia, notorious among teammates for his wit and humor, is in the foreground with a giddy smile, his tongue wagging and both thumbs up. Next to him is allegedly Valentine, face down on a table, apparently asleep. A caption accompanies the picture: "Our manager contemplating his lineup at 3:30 p.m." 
 
 A general lack of respect for Valentine has pervaded the clubhouse throughout the season. It may have peaked two days after the meeting, on July 28, when Francona entered the Red Sox's clubhouse as an ESPN analyst. He started talking with Pedroia, his most strident loyalist. Other players soon joined the conversation, which lingered for 45 minutes. Francona apologized the next day. 
 
 The Red Sox's tumultuous year started with their collapse last September, followed by the team declining to re-sign Francona. After general manager Theo Epstein left to run the Chicago Cubs, Cherington, one of his assistants, took control of the team – until Lucchino wrested the managerial hire from him. Ownership picked Valentine and Cherington rubber-stamped it, hopeful the organization could grow cohesive over the two-year span of Valentine's contract. 
 
 Instead, the Red Sox have splintered, not a shock considering Valentine's history of divide-and-conquer management. For all of his supposed strategic genius, Valentine wore out his welcome managing the Texas Rangers and New York Mets because of his willingness to napalm personal relationships. It led to a decade-long exile from the major leagues, most of which he spent in Japan. 
 
 [Also: Steve Henson: A's move to San Jose still blocked by Giant obstacle] 
 
 Valentine returned no different a manager. He barely talks with some of the coaches on his staff, several of whom remain Francona supporters. The trade of Kevin Youkilis, the World Series fixture who first exposed fractures between the players and Valentine, devolved into a public-relations mess. 
 
 Then there are the oddities, like Valentine devising a plan to never play outfielder Carl Crawford more than four days in a row because of an elbow that may need surgery, only to abandon the idea less than a week later. 
 
 Certainly the concoction of losing and an unfamiliar style has hurt Valentine's standing with players. Ownership remains in Valentine's corner, with Henry saying in his statement eight days ago: "We have been nothing but supportive of him inside and outside the clubhouse." 
 
 The support, according to the sources, baffles those against Valentine, who wonder why the meeting was called if it wasn't going to change anything. During the meeting, the players told Henry and Lucchino that part of the disconnect comes from Valentine spending excessive time in his office. 
 
 He'll retreat there again Tuesday, when Boston takes on Baltimore at Camden Yards, still wearing a Red Sox uniform, still running one of baseball's great teams, survivor of a mutiny. 
 
 For now. 
 
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– The Boston Red Sox removed a locker-room cancer and the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired three star players in a landmark 9-player trade today, USA Today reports. Initially the Dodgers wanted only first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, but the Red Sox added pitcher Josh Beckett, injured outfielder Carl Crawford, and $10 million, reports the LA Times. Gonzalez had led a locker room mutiny thus summer, reports Yahoo, and Beckett was an alleged slacker who facilitated Boston's implosion last season. With the trade, the Dodgers flexed their new financial muscle and filled a much-needed gap at first base during a heated division race. As for the Red Sox, they acquired first baseman James Loney, two young pitchers, an infielder, and an outfielder. More than $270 million in salaries exchanged sides overall. But it could be "toxic" for both teams, leaving Boston bereft of big bats and LA with bloated salaries, writes Gabe Lacques at USA Today: "Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make."