Red Sox After Craig Wilson?

Sometimes all it takes is an educated guess to put two and two together.  Hell, maybe Theo and Dave got the idea from this site yesterday - sort of a GM matchmaker (alright, that's wishful thinking).  But it's always interesting when speculation turns to real trade talks.

Yesterday I mentioned:

"If the Pirates want Arroyo back, Craig Wilson would be a decent fit given that Youkilis can play third...the Pirates have two vacancies in their rotation but a host of candidates to fill them."

Then today in Rob Rossi's article for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he revealed that the Pirates are trying to trade Wilson for a starter, possibly Matt Clement or Bronson Arroyo.  For the Bucs, I like the idea.  Sure, their offense could use a guy like Wilson, but if they must discard him they should at least solidify the rotation. 

A Pittsburgh rotation of Clement/Duke/Perez/Maholm/Snell has a chance to be quite impressive.  It might be five guys with ERAs hovering around 4, but that's actually hard to find when the average NL starter has a 4.22 ERA.

The Red Sox seem to be anticipating an injury for Trot Nixon or a failure by Mike Lowell, and expecting at least one of the two is the safe play.  The club needs a player like Wilson, who can handle both right field and first base and has an .851 career OPS.

Assuming the White Sox plan to hold on to Jose Contreras, I think they might have it right.  That is, there's nothing wrong with an overload of starting pitchers.  The White Sox shouldn't expect their front five to be completely healthy and effective once again.  Similarly, the Red Sox don't necessarily have a surplus with Arroyo/Beckett/Clement/Papelbon/Schilling/Wakefield/Wells all capable of starting.  Yes, that's seven pitchers, but three of them are injury risks and Papelbon is unproven.

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Comments

[Bill]

Wilson's OBP fits into the bosox way of thinking and also the fact that he can catch in a pinch might fill a big need right now (can he catch a knuckleball?).
either pitcher will help pit.

[Taiwan Yankee]

I want to see Craig Wilson to AL as DH!

[steven]

i think wilson will end up on the sox but this deal has some snag points. the pirates are near their spending limit and clements 9.5 mil the next 2 years would eat almost a fourth their payroll. however, when the red sox are only getting a backup player how do they justify picking up a sizable portion of clements contract even though he is the better player. it seems like the pirates might have to throw in something more or decide its ok to up their payroll. also if papelbon is looking like he is going to begin the season as closer then the soxs have to be worried about what happens if wells becomes too much of a problem. they may need to keep their depth at starting pitching. also wilson can play rf but he would probably be a liabilty out there in fenway.

[Nick]

I think its a good move for the Red Sox.
Go Red Sox

[Nick]

I think its a good move for the Red Sox.
Go Red Sox

[Parker]

Just noting that the White Sox starting 5 weren't completely healthy last season. el duque missed a lot of starts, and b-mac had to fill in for him.

[Hugh]

This has actually been discussed as a good fit since January in Red Sox boards. It's not a new idea at all, and the possibility has been mentioned in Boston papers several times.

Still an interesting possibility though.

[RumorMonger]

Nah dude no one ever thought of it before me :]

[Jon]

I would think teams are holding on Contreras right now given he has a "strained tricep"......who knows what it really is. He'll need to start a few games first....

[Nick]

If Clement were to stay with the Red Sox what would his projections be?

[RumorMonger]

I have a 4.03 ERA and 1.34 WHIP

[Devin]

am I the only one that thinks Arroyo is highly over rated? I mean for a guy who had a 4.5 era it seems everyone wants him. As a jays fan I'm often seeing arroyo compared to someone like Chacin and sox fans saying arroyo is better then Chacin, which well I think is stupid. a big difference between 4.5 and 3.8 era's.

[steven]

so a one year era sample makes a player? if you look at their peripherals last year they are really similar with arroyo slightly better in most categories. really the difference between era's like that is basically luck and ballparks. everyone wants arroyo cause he is going to be cheap and now is signed for 3 years plus he is available. not every pitcher is going to be dominate. you need reliable cheap guys at the back of your rotation. plus arroyo still has decent potential. chacin isnt available so im not sure what your point is.

[Devin]

There was really no point I was just saying as a Jays fan I see them compared alot on the Jays forum mostly by Red Sox fans. My point is simply I don't think he's as good as people make him out to be. I think he'd make a decent #3 on a middle of the road team. People talk about him like he's a #2 type pitcher which I think is laughable.

[RumorMonger]

Very good point on the ERAs Steven. As you said they can very quite a bit; you have to look at the periphs.

[Nick]

Let's also remember that was really Chacin's first year as a pitcher rotation regulary compare that to Arroyo's first year in the rotation the number are very close.
Let's see how Chacin does with his second year in a row of facing the Red Sox and Yankees-They will have made some adjustments like players did against Arroyo
Chacin's ERA will go up like half a run.

[Devin]

oh I do agree and I think chacin's era will go up, I sorta agree with most of the critics that he hit his ceiling. Thats sorta my point tho how can you even compare, you really don't have much history of stats to go by. I think in the NL he'll be a league average pitcher 4.22 era sounds about right maybe abit better I doubt under 4 tho. but really a 4 era now adays is good.

[KH]

Rosenthal says the Red Sox are looking at Wily Mo Pena. They also signed Juan Gonzalez to a minor league deal

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5427236

[Nick]

It just doesnt seem like the Red Sox would be interested in a guy with a career 303 obp.
That just shows me they are worried about Nixon's health,this will Nixon's last year in boston.

[Kyle]

Willy Mo I dont see as a replacement for Nixon. If you platooned them you would get very good production. Here are there splits from 2003-2004:
Nixon vs RHP
802 AB .314 BA .395 OBP .560 SLG
Pena vs LHP
250 AB .276 BA .347 OBP .536 SLG

As a platoon that would be pretty good production. Pena would also be able to back up any of the outfielders if they needed a rest or went down with an injury. If they could get Pena for Clement or Arroyo that would be a great trade.

[JMan]

Well they just did get Pena for Arroyo. It's official.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2376683&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines