The Examination of Dan Duquette, Part Two:

1995 was a watershed year in the Duquette Era; he took advantage of the chaos that ensued in the days immediately after the strike ended to bring in a boatload of veteran free agents (Erik Hanson, Zane Smith, Mike Macfarlane and Reggie Jefferson, among others), and supplemented that expanded talent base with a series of judicious trades. As a result, the team made one of its greatest turnarounds, from a .470 winning percentage in '94 to a .597 winning percentage (12th-best in Red Sox history) and a division championship in '95. The raw numbers are misleading because of the strike; it stopped the '94 season after 115 games, and shortened the '95 season to 144. But if they'd played 162 both years and maintained those percentages, the Sox' victory total would have increased from 76 to 96.

A look at the 1995 trades:

APRIL 8: Outfielder Mark Whiten and pitcher Rheal Cormier from St. Louis for third baseman Scott Cooper, pitcher Cory Bailey and a player to be named later (teams later reached a cash settlement). Analysis: A true addition-by-subtraction move, this one to rid themselves of Scott Cooper. (Cooper, you may recall, was hyped as one of the prize jewels of the Gorman Regime and the Sox -- in a move that will no doubt have baseball historians a century from now scratching their heads in bewilderment -- let Wade Boggs walk and handed him the third-base job. He put up OPS's of .752 and .786 in his two full seasons as the regular, before Duquette stopped the madness.) That was the real benefit of the trade: Opening up third base for Tim Naehring. The rest of the deal caused nary a ripple. Cormier gave the Sox a decent-enough season in '95 (7-5, 4.07 in 48 games as a swingman), but Whiten was a huge disappointment. As for what they gave up, the answer is . . . nothing. Cooper hit .230 for the Cards in '95, disappeared in '96, resurfaced with the Royals in '97, hit .201, and vanished for good. Cory Bailey had one decent season in the majors (with the Cards in 1996), and has been banging around ever since; he was recently sighted in the Kansas City bullpen. Long term benefit or harm: The benefit, as noted, was in giving Naehring the third-base job. It cleaned up a jumbled mess, in which several players were banging around at different positions, and gave Boston one of the best infields in baseball in 1995-96, anchored by Naehring, Mo Vaughn at first and John Valentin at short.

JUNE 10: Infielder Chris Donnels from Houston for a player to be named later (teams later reached a cash settlement). Analysis: A decent enough fill-in. I liked him, but no one else seemed to; after his half-season in Boston, he didn't make it back to the majors until the Dodgers promoted him last year (at age 34). He's still there, but look quickly if you want to catch a glimpse. He's hitting .153 as we speak, and, Craig Grebeck aside, there isn't much call for 35-year-old backup infielders who can't hit their weight. In fact, last night's 0-for-4, 4-strikeout performance against the Expos might have been his swan song, especially since Tim Bogar is about to complete an injury rehab assignment. Long term benefit or harm: None.

JULY 6: Pitcher Rick Aguilera from Minnesota for pitcher Frankie Rodriguez and a player to be named later (outfielder J.J. Johnson). Analysis: This may have been the trade that won the division for the Sox. The bullpen was in disarray and, more importantly, was costing the Sox games; the acquisition of Aguilera allowed Kevin Kennedy to structure the pen more traditionally (long man/lefty specialist/setup man/closer), and the relief pitching got demonstrably better as soon as he did. Aguilera himself also pitched well (2-2, 20 saves, 2.67 ERA), which was a big part of the upgrade. The deal was controversial when it was made, because Rodriguez had been touted by the Gormanites as the next Roger Clemens (hah!), and got more controversial when the Sox chose not to pick up the option on Aguilera's contract after the season. The Bagwell-for-Andersen wailing was utterly deafening, but Duquette knew more than we did: Rodriguez proved to be nothing more than a journeyman, and Johnson was less than that. Long term benefit or harm: If nothing else, it convinced some people -- not all, but some -- that not every prospects-for-veterans trade was a disaster waiting to happen.

JULY 24: Infielder Dave Hollins from Philadelphia for outfielder Mark Whiten. Analysis: The Sox thought they had fleeced the Cardinals when they picked up Whiten, whom they saw as a 28-year-old, power-hitting switch-hitter with a cannon for an outfield arm. Thirty-two desultory games in right field, in which Whiten sleepwalked his way to a Manny Alexander-esque .185/.239/.241 performance, convinced them otherwise. They sent Whiten to Pawtucket and then, when they saw a chance to acquire a switch-hitter who would fill their need for a right-handed DH, shipped him to the Phillies for Hollins. But Hollins had an injured hand, and his Boston career consisted of five games and 13 at-bats. Long term benefit or harm: This is the ultimate in what-if-your-mother-and-father-had-never-met? speculation, but . . Had Whiten panned out, Troy O'Leary never would gave gotten the chance to play semi-regularly in '95. But he did, and he actually hit pretty well -- .308/.355/.491 in 112 games and 399 at-bats, an .846 OPS -- and that probably a) opened the door for the Whiten trade, and b) paved the way for O'Leary's Red Sox career, which is currently causing us such pain and heartache. I also can't help but think that if Whiten had made it here, he probably wouldn't have been in center field last May 3 in Cleveland. And he wouldn't have messed up that flyball that led to the two winning Yankee runs in the top of the ninth inning. And thus the Yankees would only have been 2 1/2 games ahead of the Sox heading into the final weekend of the season, and thus the season would still have been alive on Saturday, and thus, and thus . . . Sorry. I'll stop.

JULY 31: Pitcher Mike Stanton from Atlanta for a player to be named later. Trade was completed August 31 when pitcher Matt Murray was acquired for outfielder Marc Lewis and pitcher Mike Jacobs. Analysis: Stanton gave the Sox a lefty arm in the pen and actually pitched pretty well in the calendar year he was here. But Duquette thought the real jewel was Murray, who -- in true Frankie Rodriguez fashion -- had been hailed in Braves Country as The Next Great Arm to put alongside Maddux and Smoltz and Glavine. Remember that "Hah!" you heard when discussing Rodriguez? Resurrect it here. Long term benefit or harm: Sox "won" the trade, since Stanton was the only one of the four players to contribute on the major-league level. They would, however, drop the ball a year later when they traded Stanton to Texas for two promising relievers who didn't pan out, which started Stanton on his way to the Bronx. I have to say, it would have been nice if Mike Stanton hadn't been in the Yankee bullpen these last few years.

AUGUST 14: Outfielder Chris James from Kansas City for outfielder Wes Chamberlain and cash. Analysis: Still searching for a right-handed hitter after Hollins crashed and burned, the Sox turned to Chris James. He played 16 games, batted 24 times, and then he got hurt. Long term benefit or harm: None.

AUGUST 31: Outfielder Jack Voight from Texas for pitcher Chris Howard. Analysis: Still searching for a right-handed hitter after Hollins and James crashed and burned, the Sox turned to Jack Voight. But they came to their senses and never let him play. Long term benefit or harm: None.

DECEMBER 19: Infielder Paul Carey from Baltimore for a player to be named later (teams later reached a cash settlement). Analysis: A local boy, but this was no make-good story. He not only never made it to Boston, he never made it to Pawtucket. Long term benefit or harm: None.

We continue on Monday.