After tonight's 10-3 loss to the Yankees, the Red Sox have a 49-51 record through their first 100 games of the season. Time may be running out for the Sox to determine if they'll make a major acquisition at the trade deadline or if they'll decide to punt on the 2012 season. Here's the latest from Fenway Park…
- Josh Beckett said he hasn't been approached by the team about a trade, nor about waiving his 10-5 rights, reports WEEI.com's Rob Bradford. Beckett said he would consider accepting a deal if approached since "if you’re not wanted somewhere, why stay there?" though GM Ben Cherington "assured me during Spring Training that he wants me here, so as far as I’m concerned, [rumors are] just made-up fodder.” The right-hander stressed that he wanted to remain in Boston.
- The Rangers are interested in Cody Ross and had scouts at Yankee Stadium on Friday, reports Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. A source tells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford that the Red Sox have no plans to deal Ross despite "significant" interest from other teams.
- While the Red Sox are themselves looking for pitching, WEEI.com's Alex Speier thinks the team could be well-served to get something out of "a short-term asset" like Aaron Cook. Teams have had "modest interest" in Cook on the trade market, though Cook's rough start against the Yankees tonight can't help,
- The Marlins are the only team to "officially inquire" about Carl Crawford, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
- Cherington tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links) that the team has no plans to trade Jacoby Ellsbury, as the Red Sox see Ellsbury as a key step to contending in 2013.
- From earlier today, Cherington discussed Beckett, Ellsbury and other topics during a radio appearance on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan show.
The best news the Red Sox heard this year. Their mascot is okay!!
When will they realize they need a full rebuild. You can’t stay this delusional forever Red Sox ownership (and some fans).
The problem isn’t the talent. On paper we still have a very solid team talent-wise, the issue is no one is performing which suggests a coaching issue. When one player is underperforming you look at an issue with the player, when a couple are underperforming you call it bad luck, when almost all are then you look at the leadership.
Personally, yes I’ve jumped on the blame Valentine bandwagon. I’m at a loss to explain the Sox other than poor timing with injuries and underperformance lead on by poor managing. However a complete rebuild is neither possible nor necessary. At this point you ride out the season, be prepared to shake up the coaching staff, and find a way to get Varitek back even if it’s as bench coach. If you believe the rumors he was one of the major stabilizing influences of the team.
I agree. This Sox team does NOT need a full rebuild. That’s just ridiculous. A team that’s one of the top scoring teams in MLB isn’t lacking in offensive talent. They need to get healthy and stay healthy, and make a handful of tweaks here and there, and they’ll be a contender again next season.
Injuries wasn’t the team’s problem. It was inconsistency. Their positive run differential can prove this.
This team looks fragmented!
I dissagree, the coaching is the least of their problems, Cherrington has made some bad moves that have left the Sox with no character. Even Peddy will turn on them if they don’t start making some good decisions. They made Papi angry also and their starting pitching has been horrible. By management turning on the pitchers last year they have made them the target an players don’t like that enviornment.
I would like to offer up the idea that Pedy’s bat, rather than his mouth, should be doing his talking. At .263-.265, he is riding the tide rather than leading the charge.
I agree, though only a partial rebuild. One guy I wouldn’t trade in a heartbeat is Cody Ross. Beckett and Crawford on the other hand, bye!
I don’t understand why teams wouldn’t be in on Crawford. You have to assume the bosox would be eating a rather large portion of his remaining contract. He has need an all star for a majority of his career one bad year and he is suddenly horrible? Just like Adam Dunn good/very good/ great players don’t suddenly fall off the tables(unless they stop taking certain supplements) a mid level pitching prospect or two and a mid level position prospect or two with the sox eating 100+ million would be a nice return for both teams
Dodgers should deal for Crawford. They have the money and a huge need for a lF AND leadoff guy. I don’t know that Crawford is an elite leadoff man anymore, but the Dodgers have NO ONE who can fill that role right now.
The Dodgers needs a 1b more than LF. The team is fine until the winter with a Abreu/Rivera duo and when rosters expand more playing time for a guy like Van Slyke. Crawford is just way to much salary for a guy coming off of injury at this point.
Crawford’s never been an elite leadoff guy. He hates hitting leadoff. he greatly prefers hitting 2nd or 3rd.
Seriously, what makes you think that the Sox are going to be willing to eat $100M dollars just to get rid of Crawford???
You realize at the end of this year hes only owed 108.5mm right? 142mm – 33.5mm( 1st 2 yrs pay, per Cots)=108.5mm…
I would think more like between 20-30mm or depends on if they throw in a prospect or two and who it is…
You lost me at “I don’t understand why teams wouldn’t be interested in on Crawford.”
Looks like Crawford is not a big market player and after being trashed has no desire to play in Boston. This team has all the talent in the world and is under performing again this year. It all starts with Cherrington making some poor decisions and ownership panicing at the end of last year.
Cody Ross for Olt!
Hahahaha. What’s next, Mike Aviles for Jurickson Profar. You can’t be serious man.
The exclamation point should tell you he’s not.
Here, try this:
Alfredo Aceves for Martin Perez!
Yes, I was.
The Red Sox can keep Ross. The Rangers need a better hitter than him.
Well, the Rangers liked him enough to scout him and ask the Sox whether he’s available.
Well, that is the assumption. Who knows which Red Sox player they were looking at.
True, I suppose that it could have been someone else. But if it’s a bat they’re looking for, and they’re not looking to spend much, Ross is probably the best ‘cheap’ option on the Red Sox.
I hope they don’t go the cheap route. The Rangers lineup needs something added to it. It has struggled for the better part of 3 months now. Ross would be an upgrade, but I am hoping for a better upgrade either in the OF or at 1B.
LOL… the Rangers have struggled so much that they’re 2nd in the AL in Run Scored. 😉
Thanks to an unbelievable first 4-6 weeks. Since then it has been a struggle. Since then they have intermittantly beat up on weak pitching and have struggled mightily against everyone else.
Ross is pretty good. His average isn’t that high, but when he hits, he goes on a tear. Plus, he’s cheap to keep around, making him worth the money. In a Rangers lineup he would hit all over the place.
The entire Red Sox team and even organization was poorly assembled and horribly managed top to bottom after Terry Francona was ousted and Theo Epstein fled for the hills. Larry Lucchino undermined his new GM, Ben Cherington, shoving the square-peg Valentine into the round manager’s position. Then they didn’t allow Valentine to hire his own coaching staff, sticking him, especially, with a bench coach and pitching coach not of his own choosing. Then they traded productive players in Josh Reddick and Jed Lowrie for pitchers who haven’t even contributed yet, or who are really not very good. After trading shortstop Lowrie, it was weird that they then traded their other shortstop, Marco Scutaro and went with Mike Aviles at short. Mike is a good role player, but as demonstrated last night, he’s not a full-time shortstop. Then Valentine ripped Youkilis publicly, eventually leading to trading of the one guy in the lineup you could count on to grind out the types of at bats Pedroia was talking about after last night’s thrashing at the hands of the Yankees. And they got nothing in return for Youk. And they traded him to a playoff rival. Sorry for the length of this comment, but there is just so MUCH wrong with the Red Sox.
all of that is true, but
if beckett, lester, pedroia, gonzalez, crawford, ellsbury, bard, bailey, and others had all been healthy and playing at or near their actual talent levels, this team would be winning and nobody would be talking about all of that behind the scenes nonsense
the problem here is that their best players are either hurt or underachieving. the latter is a really hard thing to figure out in sports – especially in baseball – so we look all over the place for an explanation, and aimlessly dig for every little thing that could potentially explain it
valentine and lucchino are ideal scapegoats to begin with, so that’s easy. a new GM, that’s easy. beckett never shows remorse, so that’s easy. throw in what happened at the end of last season and add a little boston sports madness and you get a perfect recipe for melodrama and hysterics, so the process of patiently examining why great players are underperforming and what can be done to get them back on track becomes panicked and belligerent and almost completely irrelevant to baseball itself
this is a team that needs small tweaks, not an overhaul. if the messes in management can be cleared up, fantastic. but those are not the main issues here
boston media has devolved into such jerry springer caliber coverage that a lot of fans have forgotten what baseball is. this stuff happens and is part of the game. there isn’t always (or even usually) an off-the-field villain destroying things from above who must be vanquished and yapped about at all times until then
bad players can and do get hot, good players can and do run cold. so it goes for entire teams sometimes. baseball is hard – and baseball is awesome. how about we all just shut up and watch some more of it
There is much to be said about the Red Sox pitching, or the lack there of, and the fact that Bobby V. did not choose the current incumbent, who, it seems, hardly speaks to his manager. The Sox, as a team are hitting .263, or 15 points below championship caliber. Good enough, statistically, however, to make the playoffs. The pitching, quality of their defense and lack of a running game are what prevents the team from getting into a winning groove. Much too sporadic in every respect noted herein to be a winning ball club.
At the time Valentine said that Youkilis wasn’t playing the game with as much enthusiasm and vigor as in the past, he wasn’t! Everyone who follows the team knew it too. So when a reporter asked the question, Valentine gave an honest answer. Kevin weighs about 230 and was hitting .215 or there abouts at the time. He looked terrible on the field too, especially on bunts and infield taps that came his way. What was Valentine to do, lie about the obvious?
The Marlins are so weird..
I know – They traded Dominguez and someone else for Lee. Now they want to trade Lee.
Confusing.
Then trade Hanley and Sanchez to check in on Crawford. What?