Brian Cashman thought his Red Sox counterpart, Ben Cherrington, made a great move by unloading the contracts of Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to the Dodgers, ridding the Red Sox of around a quarter billion dollars of salary.

"Those things are complicated and impossible," Cashman said on ESPN New York 98.7 FM's Michael Kay Show. "I thought it was a very wise move for Boston. To take a step back and re-evaluate and change some things up for all parties that -- whether it is your clubhouse, your fans, the players individually, just things, obviously, didn't appear to be working. This is the decision they made and I understand why they made it. It is not an easy one, but I think it was an easy one."

Cashman said he never heard from the Dodgers in regards to a deal for CC Sabathia or Mark Teixeira, but left open the possibility that it could have happened at a higher level than him. The New York Post reported the Dodgers called on Sabathia and Teixeira. The Yankees had no interest in trading either. Both players have no-trade clauses.

"Nobody called me about Teixeira or Sabathia," Cashman said. "It doesn't mean that those conversations didn't take place above, but I never received any conversation on those guys."

Alex Rodriguez still has five years and $114 million left on his deal.

"Alex is still an above average player, but he has an astronomical contract," Cashman said. "We're going to need Alex and we have been exposed by not having Alex and I think people are seeing how difficult it would be to deal with life without Alex at that position. Third base is becoming a hard spot. I think financially you take a step back and you look at all of that."