In light of the buzz on Jeremy Reed becoming the next potential injection of youth to the Red Sox franchise via Seattle, I think it's only appropriate to recall the swap a few years back of another pair of star-crossed Seattle youth that ended up finding themselves in the Boston mayhem.

Jason Varitek, as i recall, was regarded as a big bat at a key position coming off a nice collegiate career, and Derek Lowe was nearing a turn from a young middle reliever with some sink on his pitches to a versatile starter, who would later become a fine closer, and then a starter once again.

In exchange for those two youngsters, the M's got some guy at the end of his career who played at the end of ballgames and now owns a home right next door to Bret Boone somewhere in Florida.

So if the M's end up swapping an unproven youngster such as Reed for a guy like Clement or Arroyo, both much more experienced, aged, and statistically understood, I wonder whether the M's will finally be considered simply a feeder franchise for the factories back east?