Let’s have a quick look in at the American League East to start the day:
- The Red Sox rotation is now facing questions on several fronts. Clay Buchholz is set to return this week to see if he can salvage his season, but it is unclear whose place he will take with youngsters Brandon Workman and Rubby De La Rosa throwing well in their recent stints. Meanwhile, Jake Peavy is struggling, and as Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports, manager John Farrell did not dismiss out of hand the idea that Peavy could lose his turn.
- Then, there is Felix Doubront, who has scuffled to a 4.99 ERA but could be a trade chip, according to the Globe’s Nick Cafardo. A front office source recently told Cafardo that Doubront would draw interest if dangled because he is left-handed, has excellent pure stuff, and is affordable (he makes just $586K this year in his final pre-arbitration season).
- Scott Boras, who represents young Red Sox infielder Xander Bogaerts, discussed the future for the top young talent in an interesting chat with Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com. No extension talks have taken place for the 21-year-old, said Boras, who indicated that he believes most early-career extensions do not provide sufficient value to the player (while noting that he is willing to negotiate such contracts when it makes sense or when directed by a player). When asked if he had thought about the possibility of a pre-arb deal for Bogaerts, Boras said with a laugh that he is “usually not the one that raises these subjects.” He went on to explain that most of his attention goes toward helping his clients stay focused and improving as ballplayers, not on making deals.
- It is still early in the span of some of the large free agent contracts doled out last winter, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post says that there is enough information to begin seriously assessing whether the Yankees erred in letting Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson walk while spending big on Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brian McCann. The total commitment in dollars and years was very nearly identical between each group of players — albeit distributed quite differently — but Sherman says he believes the Yanks could have saved a fairly significant amount of money had the club aggressively pursued its own free agents. Meanwhile, the early returns on the field suggest to Sherman that New York would be better off with its departed pairing.
