Yesterday’s Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen trade was underwhelming and a little disappointing, but Ken Williams has a quick chance to redeem himself in both “win now” and “build for the future” modes with what he does next before Sunday’s trade deadline.

Many speculated that, being one of the best pitchers on the market this week, Jackson could fetch a nice return for the Sox. Maybe a nice package of prospects, maybe some major league talent, something splashy at least. Instead the Sox got a 34-year-old middle reliever. Fun.

Initially I was a puzzled and disappointed in the return of Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart (read the FutureSox profile of Stewart for more on him), feelings that were only intensified after Jackson was flipped for Colby Rasmus, a more exciting young. Is this really the best the Sox could do? But overall I can’t say I was surprised, considering Trader Kenny’s preference to target specific pieces (and relief pitchers) over maximizing value.

While great at buy-low reclamation projects, Kenny isn’t typically one for maximizing his own major league player’s value or coming away with the hottest, blue chip prospect. Besides, while Jackson was undoubtedly somewhat of a hot commodity, he wasn’t going to restock the Sox farm system with can’t miss-ers.

It’s clear the primary motive of this trade had little to do with the players coming back anyhow: it was a salary dump. Mark Teahen and his lousy contract are history, saving the Sox $5.5 million next year and, when combined with Jackson and Frasor, about $4.5 million this year.

Here are the three biggest factors influencing this trade:

1. The $$ saved this year.
Yes, it is nice to get Teahen off the books for 2012, but his $5.5 million salary would have been inconvenient and regrettable- not back-breaking. The big key is the ~$4.5 million the Sox shaved off this year’s payroll. The team is still in win-now mode, but they’re up against their payroll limit and in need of improvements.

For the last two years, Kenny was allowed to spend recklessly at the trade deadline: Jake Peavy, Alex Rios, Jackson and Manny Ramirez all had significantly large contracts which the Sox were completely on the hook for. Payroll limitations, for all intents and purposes, did not matter or factor into the acquisitions. Then add in Adam Dunn and the rest of the offseason’s buy-a-thon.

Now we’re seeing a return to the fiscal responsibility and dollar-in for dollar-out zero sum game that Kenny used to play all the time. Sure, it was rumored that the Chairman ordered the payroll to be trimmed in order to save a little money, so that $4.5 million could just be pocketed by ownership. But if the $4.5 million goes right to acquiring someone else that can help the team win now, this trade looks a lot better and the Sox get a lot more interesting.

2. The loss of Jake Peavy Insurance
The Sox six-man rotation, as cool as it was, wasn’t going to last all season. But now that the team is down to the traditional five-man rotation, what happens if someone (like, oh I don’t know… Jake Peavy) gets injured?

While that is a concern that all teams have, it is especially troubling for the Sox, because Peavy is as fragile as an emo kid’s heart and there is no suitable replacement in the minors at all. Other starters like Mark Buehrle benefited from the extra day of rest, but Peavy was the guy who truly needed it. As it is now, he hits a wall after the 75-pitch mark, making him a five-and-diver. How will that be affected?

Stewart will probably be the guy who gets the call if and when Peavy goes down again.

3. The Tony La Russa factor.
It’s a definite conspiracy to think the Sox wouldn’t acquire Rasmus, even if they had the means and the desire, just because La Russa will be the team’s manager in 2012. It’s not as far fetched to think that La Russa is still a very trusted friend of Jerry Reinsdorf, and indirectly swayed the Chairman away from a problematic player.

If the Sox miss the playoffs, and Ozzie is jettisoned to Miami, there is a chance La Russa does manage the Sox next year, considering his own contract status and relationship with Reinsdorf. I’m not dismissing that out of hand. But the Sox are out to get the best possible players for the Sox today.

Based on potential on the field, Rasmus would have been nice. For whatever reason, Ken Williams, Ozzie Guillen, Rich Hahn and co. decided Rasmus wasn’t a good fit for the team. The character issue may have been enough to scare off the Sox, a case Jim Margalus made three days ago.

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Jackson was bound to move on, now to his sixth team and this winter to his seventh, and Teahen never had a chance to live up to expectations anyway.

The question now is what do the Sox do with the rest of the week? Since there is no chance that they will go into full-on “sell” mode (at least not before August), the window is open to seek upgrades, most likely at 3B (as crazy as it sounded the first 30 times Phil Rogers pimped it, that Aramis Ramirez-to-the-Sox idea just might make some sense now) or CF. The perfect storm may also be brewing to sell high on Carlos Quentin and give Kenny a chance to get that king’s ransom he missed out on for Jackson.

The team is squarely in the race- the Tigers loss today puts the Sox only 3.0 games out of first- and now has a little extra money to play with.

Kenny’s next move will be the more important one.