The Todd Helton trade talks have ended. Apparently, the Red Sox wouldn't budge on the inclusion of middle relief prospect Manny Delcarmen or Craig Hansen. If The Denver Post is correct, it was because the Red Sox didn't have enough confidence in their ability to evaluate their prospects:
However, they weren't willing to risk being haunted by a young prospect performing well for another team, as was the case with Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez in Florida last season.
The Red Sox balked not only at including Delcarmen, Hansen and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, but any prospect of merit.
Wow. They'd take a guaranteed $53.5MM liability (in a balance sheet sense) but not for Manny Delcarmen, whose value over the same period of time would need to be be more than the difference between $53.5MM and what is owed Lowell and Tavarez ($12.1 MM). The Red Sox can't believe Delcarmen is a $41.4MM over the next six seasons, can they?