According to a report by Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Indians wanted quite the haul from the Giants if they were to have acquired catcher Victor Martinez, who eventually wound up being traded to the Red Sox.

Sources said the Indians wanted a package led by either Matt Cain or Madison Bumgarner for Martinez, and the Giants are happy with a righty-lefty first base combo of Ryan Garko and Travis Ishikawa.

This report might not be true (after all, Schulman didn’t site his sources), but if it is, Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro had to have been hammered when he took the call from San Francisco GM Brian Sabean about V-Mart:

“Uh yeah, Mark? This is Brian Sabean from the Giants.”

“What can Brain I do for you Giants?”

“What? Is this Mark Shapiro from the Indians?”

“Yes siiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Word up, man?”

“Uh yeah…hey listen Mark, I was wondering what kind of package you’d be looking for in a deal for Victor Martinez.”

“Matt Cain.”

“Matt Cain?”

“Matt Cain.”

“Are you drunk? Martinez is a good hitter, but he’s struggled this past month and he’s 30. Cain is only 24 and is a legit Cy Young candidate.”

“Fiiiiiiine…whatever, douche. Give me Madison Bumgarner then.”

“He’s our top pitching prospect! Seriously Mark, are you freaking sauced right now? And did you just call me a douche?”

“Tim Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval and Jonathan Sanchez….Sanchez can be the throw in.”

“Sober up, Mark.”

The Red Sox had their sites set on possibly acquiring Padres’ slugger Adrian Gonzalez at the start of the day on Friday, but wound up trading for Indians’ catcher Victor Martinez instead.

In a completely separate deal, Boston also swapped first baseman with the Braves, acquiring Casey Kotchman for Adam LaRoche.

In this trade, the Tribe will receive right-hander Justin Masterson and minor league pitchers Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price. Masterson was Boston’s second-round pick in 2006, going 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 31 appearances including six starts this season. He also went 6-5 with a 3.16 ERA in 36 games last year after being called up from the minors.

Hagadone was drafted No. 55 overall by the Sox in ’07 and missed most of the ’08 season after having Tommy John surgery. Price was the No. 45 overall pick in ’08 and has struggled thus far in the minors.

For Boston not to have to give up Clay Buchholz in trade for V-Mart was huge. Martinez is a nice upgrade and adds pop to a Red Sox lineup that desperately needs it, but Boston would have overpaid in a deal involving Buchholz. Now with Martinez and Kotchman, they have options to play with regarding both their lineup and defense, where V-Mart will likely split time at both catcher and first base.

As for Cleveland, it’s hard to determine if they got good value in this deal or not – and we may not know that answer for a couple of years, just like we won’t know if they got good value in the Cliff Lee trade.

Pundits seem to like Masterson, but he seems to struggling against left-handers and really only has two pitches. Hagadone is a hard throwing reliever who could blow through the minors but he’s also coming off of Tommy John surgery and will likely start off in Double-A next year. Price is only 22, but he has struggled so far in the minors.

So if you’re an Indians fan, you’ve got to be in flux right now. Your team traded away its best pitcher and its most popular position player outside of Grady Sizemore, but got a slew of prospects that may or may not develop. You’re club is building hope for the future, but the future may be three or four more years away and who’s to say that once all of this pitching develops that you might not have any hitting at that time? Then you’re just the San Francisco Giants of the American League.

Every Tribe fan across the nation must be sighing right now and saying to themselves, “We’ll see.”

By the way, it’s Victor Martinez bobble head night in Cleveland tomorrow. Whoops…