Red Sox Notes: Ellsbury, Hanrahan, Dodgers Trade

After a 20-8 start to the 2013 season, the Red Sox have dropped nine of their past 11 games and now find themselves in third place. General manager Ben Cherington's squad is still just three games out of first place but will need to snap their skid promptly to keep up in the AL East. Here are some Sox-related links for your Wednesday afternoon…

• ESPN's Buster Olney appeared on the Mut & Merloni radio show in Boston, and Jerry Spar of WEEI.com has some of the highlights. "It's going to be a crusher" for Jacoby Ellsbury if he continues this season on his current trajectory, says Olney. Ellsbury, who ranks third on Tim Dierkes' free agent power rankings, is hitting just .256/.321/.363 through 39 games. Olney wonders if Ellsbury would gamble on signing a one-year deal rather than settling for a fraction of the $100MM he could have pushed for with a repeat of his 2011 numbers.
• Within that same interview, Olney discussed Boston's decision to trade for Joel Hanrahan this offseason, noting that the Red Sox knew there were some health issues at the time of the trade. Many teams were aware of the issues with Hanrahan, which is why the Pirates didn't get much of a return for their two-time All-Star. Hanrahan joins a long list of players that must re-establish their value before getting paid, says Olney.
• Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston takes a look back at last summer's blockbuster trade with the Dodgers, noting that Loney has departed to the Rays, Ivan De Jesus Jr. and Jerry Sands were included in the Hanrahan deal but Allen Webster and Rubby de la Rosa have looked good. Edes runs down each player the Dodgers received as well as the future financial implications for the Sox. "This will be a good deal for the Dodgers only if they are playing in October," Edes writes. "It may be years before we know how good a deal it was for the Red Sox."