By: JessLander, YawkeyTalkies Editor

What do you do when you have a slumping player and need to get them motivated?

Threaten to trade them.

This might seem drastic, but in Boston, it seems to often work.

Back in January/February rumors circled about possibly trading Celtics’ Ray Allen who had been inconsistent all season. His age, along with the rest of his teammates, showed. But then right as the deadline was passing, Allen stepped it up. The deadline was on Feb 19 and for five straight games starting with February 18th, Allen had the high for points, averaging 23 points a game.

Despite denying that was the reason for an improvement in his play, the timing couldn’t seem like less of a coincidence. His numbers are up right around where they were last year and he’s second behind Paul Pierce for points. Especially now, Boston is glad we kept him, as he’s averaging 19 points a game in the playoffs.

Our newest example is good ole’ Mikey Lowell. The Red Sox have discussed trading Lowell since the end of the 2009 season. None of the trades went through, and Lowell humbly took his place on the bench. He’s been a great sport, stating that there’s nothing he can do, and it’s just the way of the game.

But due to the production, or lack there of, from David Ortiz (.149 average), Lowell has had a chance to show that he’s still go it. Survey says: he does. Red Sox Nation has openly rallied for Lowell to take Papi’s starting spot at DH. He’s hitting .317, just one of four Red Sox batting above .300. He’s played in five games less than Ortiz, and yet is beating him on hits and RBI’s. He also has only struck out 5 times; Papi has struck out a whopping 25 times.

Jason Varitek can even be put into this category. There was the possibility of him being traded, and like Lowell, he has given up his starting spot and taken his new seat on the bench. This is the guy that you would see come up to the plate and groan because you knew you weren’t going to see anything pretty.

But in 2010, the ‘Tek is back. He is tied in first for home runs (5) and batting a .324, again, one of four Red Sox above a .300. V-Mart, who’s taken his place behind the plate, is only batting a .242. He’s played more than double the games as ‘Tek and yet he’s only hit one ball out of the park, and has only one more RBI than the former Sox starting catcher.

So what does this show us? That maybe our slumping players need a little kick to their ego’s sometimes. Maybe they need to realize that someone behind them is doing their job better, or that worse, someone on another team is. A lot of players would jump at the chance to play on any one of Boston’s franchises.

So while this can apply to any player at anytime, today, Papi, this message was inspired by you.

If we don’t start seeing you smacking some out of the Green Monster, and I mean like TODAY, you might just be traded.

Let’s see if this works.

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