Iglesias nearing majors on hard work

Pawtucket Red Sox manager Arnie Beyeler feels one of the best things that happened to youthful shortstop Jose Iglesias last…

The Real Shortstop Controversy

There’s been a lot of chatter recently regarding the shortstop controversy brewing between Jed Lowrie and Marco Scutaro.  While it’s…

After Aceves scratched, Atchinson makes spot start

The Pawtucket Red Sox’ season opener Thursday night was notable not only for who played but also for who did…

Ten Things to Watch for this Spring

photo © 2005 Ken Curtis | more info (via: Wylio)Spring training is finally “official”! Before we know it, lineup cards…

‘Tis the season… it is better to give than receive

The calendar is closing in on July 31, 2010 and most are discussing who could the Red Sox acquire to help the team close the gap in the A.L. East. But few talk about the prospects that could be moved until a year or two or twenty years from now. Hopefully, the Olde Towne Team will not give up another future Hall of Famer this summer.

Hopefully, the Olde Towne Team will not give up another future Hall of Famer this summer. Two that could go are Lars Anderson and Oscar Tejada . The former Red Sox top prospect could now find his w

As Usual the Red Sox Need Help in the Bullpen

Even before Jonathan Papelbon blew a save on Wednesday night in Denver, the Red Sox needed help in the back end of the bullpen. Daniel Bard can not go two innings each game the Sox are leading in a close game in going into the eighth inning.

Both Papelbon and Hideki Okajima’s production have been trending downward over the past few seasons. Okajima’s K/BB ratio has fallen each since he arrived in Boston. He is becoming more of a situational reliever.

Oscar Tejeda: Trying to get ahead of the pack.

First the good news about shortstop Oscar Tejeda: he won’t hit the “ripe” age of 21 until December 26. Now the bad news: Boston has a veritable glut of shortstops in its farm system including, in no particular order, David Renfroe, Derrik Gibson, Jose Iglesias and Yamaico Navarro. And just imagine if Boston decided it would be best served by having Casey Kelly play shortstop instead of pitch. In a sense, Tejeda has been running on a treadmill in that last season was his second at low-A Greenville. But the fact he returned to the Drive might have been expected considering he contracted a staph infection in a forearm which hampered him much of the 2008 season. And that was after he had off-season surgery to repair a tiny hole in his heart.

Assessing Boston’s shortstop options

With the departure of Alex Gonzalez to Toronto, it's time to move on and explore what options are available to Boston to man the shortstop position in 2010 -- and possibly beyond. I've gone through some potential free-agent and trade options and then tied it all in a neat little bow for consideration. Internal options include Jed Lowrie and Jose Iglesias. The free agent market has a bevy of options, but they all have their drawbacks. From Marco Scutaro to Adam Everett to Miguel Tejada to Craig Counsell -- yes, Craig Counsell -- we have you covered here. Want to think trade? Stephen Drew, Cristian Guzman and Hanley Ramirez are considered. Yeah, Hanley Ramirez. The New York Daily News has a note that the Marlins are talking to the Red Sox about a Hanley Ramirez trade.

BoSox AFL Update

With the conclusion of every major league season comes the beginning of the second season of “minor” leagues in baseball – the Winter Leagues. This 2009 off-season, the Sox have placed 17 promising prospects across four leagues, including some of the most exciting names in the organization, such as Casey Kelly, Ryan Kalish, Jose Iglesias, and Yamiaco Navarro. The Winter Leagues are one of the more interesting annual rituals of the MLB, aside from maybe the Rule 5 Draft, as every team in baseball pours their most highly touted prospects into one pool where they duke it out for organizational supremacy.

New Shortstop Prospect Jose Iglesias

With the recent signing of shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias, the Sox now have four shortstops among their top 20 prospects.

Soxprospects.com rates the 19 year-old Cuban defector as the 14th best prospect in the organization and second-best prospect behind #12 Yamaico Navarro, third-best if you include Casey Kelly.

The 5-11, 175 pound infielder rates very well with the glove, with at least one scout grading it an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale, according to Kiley McDaniel of Baseball Prospectus. His arm rates as a plus, as does his range, though his speed is of debate to some scouts.