No-Wade Clause: Boston Red Sox Transactions That Almost Happened

The Boston Red Sox are the one of the most popular teams in all of Major League Baseball.

As with most incredibly popular MLB teams, the Red Sox are constantly in the spotlight. What comes with the spotlight is:

False trade rumors.

The BoSox have had plenty of them. This slideshow hopes to chronicle some of the bigger trades that didn't happen.

If you think I've left anything major off the list, leave me a comment. This article is in no particular order.

2007-08 Offseason: Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson to Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana

Johan Santana has won two Cy Young awards, and has been one of the most dominant pitchers of the 21st Century.

The Red Sox dangled their future dominant pitcher, in Jon Lester, to Minnesota for Santana, and even offered their future shortstop, their platooning center fielder and their future Victor Martinez ticket to Minnesota.

But eventually Johan Santana was traded to the New York Mets for Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Delois Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.

Masterson, Lester, Crisp and Lowrie have all had success in the majors, while the guys the Mets sent have each had limited success. Santana has also been on and off the DL with New York, while Lester has since thrown a no-hitter for Boston

It's safe to say the Red Sox are better for holding onto those guys.

2002-03 Offseason: Shea Hillenbrand and Casey Fossum to the Montreal Expos for Bartolo Colon

The Expos traded prospects Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore to the Cleveland Indians for Colon to help with the 2002 NL Wild Card race. The 'Spos didn't make the playoffs, and were looking to salvage something from an otherwise incredibly lopsided trade.

The Red Sox were offering Casey Fossum and Shea Hillenbrand. Both of which were later traded to Arizona for Curt Schilling and Byung-Hyun Kim, respectively.

Colon was an excellent pitcher in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He won the Cy Young in 2005, but injuries hampered him. He eventually joined the Red Sox during the 2008 season.

Colon is now with the Chicago White Sox, Fossum has been bouncing around minor league organizations, and Hillenbrand is on the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League.

November 1997: Carl Pavano and prospects to the Florida Marlins for Robb Nen

This is the best trade never to happen. Ever.

The prospects the Red Sox would've sent to Florida were instead sent to the Expos for (drum roll please) Pedro Martinez.

I know.

A pretty decent reliever or arguably the greatest pitcher of this generation. You choose.

The Red Sox chose wisely.

However, Boston would continue pursuing Nen. Days after the Martinez trade went down, rumors came around that the Sox were still interested in Nen. The rumor included Robinson Checo and other prospects not involved in the Martinez deal heading to Florida for Nen and Devon White.

1998 Offseason: Mo Vaughan to New York Yankees for Bernie Williams

I've always loved Bernie Williams and I've always loved Mo Vaughan. But in my mind, they will always be a Yankee player and a Red Sox player. They're synonymous with their respective franchises.

Williams had a great career playing for the Yankees and only the Yankees, while Vaughan had a great career until he left Boston for Anaheim and the Mets. It was really all down hill from their for Mo.

But, anyway, back to the matter at hand.

I don't like rivals making trades with rivals. I don't like the Giants making trades with the Dodgers, the Cubs making trades with the Cardinals, and especially the Red Sox making trades with the Yankees. It's just not right.

You're taught you're entire career to despise the rival team, but then they go around and trade you to them? That's not right.

1989: The Wade Boggs Rumors

Wade Boggs' contract was up after the season, and the Red Sox wanted to get something for the good but aging third baseman before he left via free agency.

Now, most of these rumors were probably thought up by some bored sportswriter sitting in his basement.

The list goes as follows:

Boggs to Kansas City for Floyd Bannister and Kevin Seitzer, nixed by the Royals because they wanted Wes Gardner instead of John Dopson.

Boggs to Seattle for Mark Langston and Jim Presley. The deal just fell apart.

And finally, Boggs to the Angels for Mike Witt, Jack Howell, Jim Abbott and Chuck Finley.

Boggs eventually signed a new deal with Boston and stayed with the Red Sox for three more seasons.

The Manny Rumors, 2003-2008

The greatest drama series from 2003-2008, "The Manny Rumors" aired on NESN.

The premise was like this: first he wants to be traded, then he loves Boston and wants to stay, then he hates Boston, but then he loves it again, only to complain about his knee, and then hate Boston some more, and eventually he got traded, and "The Manny Rumors" was canceled.

In all seriousness, there was quite a bit of drama in the Red Sox clubhouse since the four-team deal that would've sent Manny to Texas for Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra to the White Sox for Magglio Ordonez. The trade fell apart when A-Rod was sent to the New York Yankees.

Fast forward to 2005. A trade going right down to the deadline.

July 31, 2005. Jon Papelbon's major league debut overshadowed by a trade that didn't happen.

A three-team deal would've sent Man-Ram to the Mets, Anibal Sanchez to the Devil Rays, and Aubrey Huff to Boston. Tampa nixed the deal because of the Sox refusal to include Jon Lester, a move that would later pay dividends for the Red Sox.

This deal was better off not going down, as Anibal Sanchez would be added in the trade the brought Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Red Sox.

Other deals that fell apart were; Manny to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada; Manny to the Orioles again, but this time the Sox would've included Matt Clement for Tejada and a little-known outfielder named Nick Markakis. This deal would've immensely good for Boston, while not so good for Baltimore.

There was one more deal I heard, right before the trade to LA: A straight up deal that would've sent Manny to the Dodgers for Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, but the Dodgers wanted more in return.

The King of all Trade Rumors: Ted Williams to the Yankees and Joe DiMaggio to the Red Sox

This is probably the single greatest trade rumor. This had The Splendid Splinter being traded for the Yankee (or maybe the Red Sox) Clipper.

The owners of the Red Sox and Yankees thought that Williams (being a lefty) would be able to use the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium to his advantage, while DiMaggio would be able to pepper the Green Monster at Fenway Park (being a righty), along with DiMaggio being reunited with his brother, Dom DiMaggio, who played center for the Red Sox.

One can only wonder how different each team's fates would've been had Williams played for the Yankees and DiMaggio for the Red Sox. Literally the Grand Daddy of All Trade Rumors.

Thanks to a commenter on this article for telling me about the King of All Trade Rumors.