Sadly, the Boston Red Sox’s All-Star and much beloved shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra–a.k.a. “Nomah” to the Boston faithful–has been traded to the Chicago Cubs as part of a multi-team deal. In return, the Red Sox get two former Gold Glove winners, shortstop Orlando Cabrera from the Montreal Expos and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz (pronounced min-KAY-vich) from the Minnesota Twins.

As a die-hard Sox fan, it is difficult to watch the heart and soul of the Boston team make the trip to the Cubbies, even though the two teams aren’t even in the same league, let alone in contention for anything at this point in the season. Heck, if the Cubs and Red Sox made it to the World Series at the same time, I think Hell would freeze over (neither team has won a World Series since before 1920).

This set of trades sent Alex Gonzalez and a set of minor leaguers from the Cubs to Montreal. Minnesota received a few prospects as well, as did the Cubs. Cash was also passed around.

Nomar had reportedly been unhappy at the prospect of remaining with the Sox, since they had tried to deal teammate Manny Ramirez in the off-season for the much-sought-after (and highly overpaid) shortstop Alex Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers (Garciaparra would have then likely been dealt elsewhere, possibly to the Colorado Rockies to free up the shortstop position on the Red Sox). Garciaparra’s contract is set to expire at the end of this season, so it remains up to the Cubs at this point to decide if they want to let Nomar sign elsewhere or if they will compete in re-signing him.

Several other big moves were also made at the last minute today, just before the 3:00 PM EDT trading deadline. I recommend going to Major League Baseball’s homepage for the latest on MLB trades.

However, the most important event to me (after Nomar’s trade, of course), is the non-trade of the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ ace, Randy Johnson, a.k.a. The Big Unit. Several teams, most notably the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and (especially) the Los Angeles Dodgers were interested in acquiring Johnson, one of the most dominant pitchers in the game today. Johnson, although older than most major-leaguers–he’s 41–is still at the top of his game, and any team with playoff aspirations (which the Diamondbacks do not seem to have this season) would love to have him. Johnson decided that it would be best to stay where he is, however, and is reportedly not interested in any sort of trade.

But the damage has been done. All that’s left now is to see if the trade of Nomah brings a curse akin to the Curse of the Bambino.