« Carl Crawford Rumors: Monday | Main | Nationals, Rangers Interested In Jeff Francis »

Red Sox Notes: Buchholz, Gonzalez, Ellsbury, Okajima

Here's the latest on the Red Sox, including some continued fallout from the blockbuster Adrian Gonzalez deal...

• The Red Sox are interested in adding a complementary right-handed bat, GM Theo Epstein tells Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald (Twitter link).
• The Red Sox have offered Taylor Buchholz a minor league deal and are one of 12 teams to express interest in the right-hander, according to Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal.
• Felix Doubront, Jed Lowrie, and Jacoby Ellsbury's names were all discussed in the Boston/San Diego trade talks, says John Tomase of the Boston Herald.  Ellsbury was the only one that drew much interest from the Padres, but they decided against him since Ellsbury's forthcoming arbitration raise would make him too expensive and a trade candidate himself in the near future.
• Also from Tomase, both Chicago teams were "finalists" for Gonzalez and were offering at least one major league player in their trade packages.  Ultimately, San Diego decided that it preferred the prospects in Boston's offer.
• John Boggs, Gonzalez's agent, talks to WEEI.com's D.J. Bean about the contract extension negotiations that nearly held up the trade on the weekend.  "We’re not working in a spirit to get [the Red Sox] by the jugular or squeeze every nickel, or set a precedent-setting deal," Boggs said.
• The agent for Hideki Okajima tells ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes (Twitter link) that he will talk with the Red Sox "soon," though there has been "pretty strong" interest in Okajima from some other clubs.
• It's not often the Red Sox are priced out of a signing, but FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says Jayson Werth's contract with Washington may have made Carl Crawford too expensive for Boston's liking, especially since the Sox now have to fit a Gonzalez extension ("the parameters" for which are $154MM over seven years) into their budget.  The Red Sox may instead focus on acquiring relievers or finding a cheaper outfield option, like trading for Josh Willingham.
• Adrian Beltre's asking price is $85MM over five years, Rosenthal reports.  Boston would be interested in re-signing the third baseman if "the market for Beltre collasped," but the plan is to play Kevin Youkilis at third with Gonzalez taking over at first.  Rosenthal says the Red Sox aren't considering moving Youkilis to left field to make room for Beltre.

---

Lijit Search

---

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner