Higher level prospects are a commodity and should be considered when discussing the "cost" of acquiring and signing A-Gon.  Having exclusive rights to negotiate and work out a deal vs. waiting for him to hit FA likely saved the Red Sox millions, and got him signed for one extra year in his prime.  But that came at a price of significantly decreasing the depth in their system, which limits ability to perhaps fill another need, such as catcher.  

I am a supporter of the A-Gon aquisition and signing, but it cost more than just the contract, no matter how the prospects turn out 3-4 years down the road.  

Just in my opinion, the beauty of this trade was that the prospects we gave up were guys we can easily live without.

Rizzo would have had nowhere to play anyway; as for Fuentes, I don't think speedy lefthanded outfielders are exactly an area of need for us at the moment.

If there was anyone it hut a little to give up it was Kelly; he may turn out to be good or he may not, but with almost our whole rotation locked up for the near future and other prospects possibly ready to step forward in the next few years (Ranaudo, Britton, Pimentel...) I'd definitely take that chance.

If everything breaks right, we won't miss any of those three at all. Trading them for a proven star like Gonzalez was a no-brainer.