They may not have put them over the top, but they did fill holes that Boston needed to fill since defense was a major concern that year. Without those two players (and Dave Roberts), I seriously doubt Boston wins the WS in 2004. 2004 UZR/150: Nomar: -15.8 Cabrera: -2.3 2004 OPS: Nomar: .842 Cabrera: .689 Was the defensive difference between the two enough to make up for the offensive gap? I doubt it. Yeah, you can throw all of these new age stats at me all you want, (you might as well be speaking Farsi), the fact is the Red Sox were a better TEAM after Nomar then they were with Nomar. Enough so the Red Sox felt they needed to make that trade. Did they actually lose out on the trade, not one bit. wow