Deadline Darlings: Bay vs. Martinez

For two consecutive seasons, Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox front office have made a splash on the infamous "Deadline Day". His shrewd ability to assess his team and aggressively make maneuvers to address any weaknesses or "fatal flaws" has been well documented and proven out year over year. The question I pose to you all today, is who was larger impact on their respective teams in the year of their deadline day acquisition; Jason Bay in 2008 or Victor Martinez in 2009? Of course much of VMart's story is still to be written and Bay's success last post-season places a high bar against which Martinez will be measured, but there is certainly enough of a sample between July 31 and today from which to engage the conversation. Jason Bay's story in 2008 was of course, right or wrong, inexorably linked to one Manny Ramirez. It is nearly impossible to look solely at the acquisition of Jason Bay as a right handed power bat as the impetus for the...