Category: Boston Red Sox

Red Sox and Royals Could be Trading Partners

May 17, 2010: Kyle Farnsworth for the Kansas City Royals pitches during a game against the hometown Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. The Royals beat the Orioles 4 - 3.
As we discussed previously, Kerry Wood is the odds on favorite to be the Red Sox new name reliever come August. The Olde Towne Team’s lack of upper-level prospects performing well and/or a desire not to part with these assets gives the Red Sox only a financial advantage over most other teams. Since Cleveland may not find many clubs willing to adsorb Wood’s large salary for the rest of 2010, Red Sox would seem to be one of the front runners for the hard-throwing relievers services. But another possibility could emerge in Kansas City.

Per usual the Royals are going nowhere in 2010. Their trading deadline focus will be on moving players that are unlikely to contribute to the next competitive KC club. Even with a better farm system than in the past, the Royals are probably not going to be contenders in 2011. Productive players with reasonable but short-term contracts like David DeJesus and Kyle Farnsworth should be on the move come July 31, 2010.

The DL All-Stars

June 26, 2010 - San Francisco, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - epa02225558 Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia watches the game on his crutches from the dugout against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California, USA, 26 June 2010. Pedroia injured his foot during Friday nights game against the Giants.
Kevin Youkilis left last night's game in the 4th inning with an ankle injury. At the moment, it appears he'll be fine -- the word out of Fenway is that he'll be in the lineup tonight. Still, the sight of Youk leaving the game yesterday must have caused remotes across New England to be flung in exasperated disgust as the injury bug appeared to claim another key player on this 2010 Red Sox team. In recounting the injuries that have plagued the club this year, it occurs to me that we could field a fairly talented club solely from our DL. In order to find out exactly how good, I decided to draw up a lineup (nine offensive positions, two starters, a setup man, and a closer) and see how well it would stack up given their projected 2010 WAR (I'm using CHONE projections for batters because they're the easiest to find, but the estimates shouldn't be too far afield; for pitchers it's a bit tricky, but I'll resort to using fangraphs.com's fan projections -- imperfect, but close enough). This is obviously a thought experiment more than anything else, but it's interesting to see exactly how much talent the Sox have lost so far this season.

Varitek and Delcarmen Down, Possible Trade Candidates

May 16, 2010: Boston Red Sox's Jason Varitek (33) during the MLB baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Tigers defeated the Red Sox 5-1.
The injury carousel keeps turning – and, unfortunately, keeps landing on the Red Sox’ spot. While Jason Varitek was placed on the disabled list Thursday with a broken foot, Manny Delcarmen was also added on Friday with a strained right forearm. Reliever Robert Manuel was recalled to replace Delcarmen while catcher Kevin Cash was acquired from the Astros in return for infielder Angel Sanchez. Second baseman Niuman Romero was called up from Pawtucket to assume Sanchez’ vacated roster spot. With all the injuries and new names flying around, this seems like the perfect opportunity to stress the importance of offseason minor league acquisitions. While these replacement level signings are often glossed over in the newspapers and on the transactions lists, these players are signed for precisely this reason: to provide insurance against the unlikely event of a nightmare scenario playing out -- much like the one the Sox are currently in.

7/3 Online Seats Game Thread: Getting to Guthrie

Jon Lester and Jeremy Guthrie have both factored into twelve decisions so far this season, earning a (9-3) and (3-9) record, respectively. Tonight, Lester will look to continue the Boston Red Sox's successful record against the struggling Orioles.