The Red Sox are becoming increasingly likely to consider other trades, ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes reports. The big factor in the Red Sox’ willingness to deal is not the recent trade of Jake Peavy to the Giants, which was likely regardless, but rather the team’s recent slide. The Red Sox have lost four in a row and are now 10 1/2 games back in the AL East.
The Dodgers have touched base with the Red Sox regarding Jon Lester, Edes writes, although those talks have not yet gone very far. Also, the Royals are keeping their eyes on outfielder Jonny Gomes. Left-handed reliever Andrew Miller has also attracted plenty of interested teams. He’s due to become a free agent this offseason, but the Red Sox have not had discussions with him about an extension.
I mean, they should be. No point in holding onto expiring talent after the way the last four games went. Get some other teams to overpay, Ben!
Agreed. No reason to hold on to Lester either really considering both sides have stopped negotiating.
If they can get a serious haul for Lester, I say Ben should do it, as much as it will pain me to see.
If they can get anything worth more than a supplemental draft pick, they should trade him. He’s not going to sign an extension and he’s even said that he’d be wiling to re-sign with the team if they trade him.
Not exactly, I believe he said there would be “No Ill will”, that isnt the same as saying Id forget everything & re-sign with Boston.
Uh, that’s what “no ill will” means
I doubt he’s going to re-sign in Boston whether the Sox trade him or not. The point was it doesn’t seem like trading him would decrease his chances of re-signing to a significant degree.
Exactly right. In fact, I think it might actually INCREASE the chance he would resign in Boston because, theoretically, they would be a better team next year because of the haul they would get in the trade.
He will be a Yankee and I will loose my mind!
Who do you think would be interested and be able to give a serious haul?
Tigers are set, Royals maybe but not sure if their system has recovered from Shields trade, A’s are set already made trade, LAA don’t have enough, Nats and Braves seem set, Giants made their move, Reds have a full rotation, Pirates seem unlikely.
That leaves Dodgers, Mariners, and Cardinals. Only the middle seem desperate enough to trade a serious haul tho to me!
Indians and Pirates have big holes at the top of their rotations.. both could becomes desperate enough to deal a young SP and young OF
Indians don’t seem like contenders to me but Clint Frazier would be a nice piece!
Pirates have Josh Bell and Austin Meadows which would both be nice adds as well.
I feel like neither team would do that trade though.
Why not? If you follow the indians, they have looked at lester cause francona knows him and they believe they are still contending, which is all that matters…and as for the pirates, this is the best time to strike a deal for a front line pitcher, The reds are out of it with injuries, the Cards have struggled and the Brewers are fading, if they get an ace for the stretch run they would be my pick to face off with the Dodgers in the LCS… give them Uehara, Lester, Gomes, or whoever they may want and hand pick your prospects from them..
If I was Ben, Id be on the phone with the Dodgers finding out what it would take to get Pederson (assuming they want more than just Lester). Hes major league ready, the Dodgers dont have a spot for him, they need starters.
What would be the extra pieces though? Koji seems like a good 2nd piece and maybe Andrew Miller but then you are trading FA that you may want to keep and beyond those 2 you would be dealing prospects which is always risky especially if Pederson busts (league could be boosting numbers).
I know the Sox want to keep Koji and Jansen has been good for the Dodgers lately. It really depends on how desperate for pitching and willing to part with Pederson Dodgers are . Lester straight up may be enough.
Lester for Pederson would be quite the haul but if Peavy gets a teams number 2 and guy ranked top 75 before the year then shooting high for Lester ain’t a bad idea assuming they trade him.
Itd be awesome if they can get something useful for Lester and then resign him in the offseason. But youre right Id hate to see Lester not be back next season.
Especially with LA, Ben could fleece the heck out of Colletti and Lester would still probably resign with Boston if they’re willing to give a fair offer.
As your namesake might say, “Dodger Lords are our speciality”
Ben created this mess. Do you really trust his player evaluation?
What mess? The one where we are less than a year removed from winning the world series?
We’d take this sort of “mess”.
Cubs fans
You have it. Your problem is that it’s sort of like Groundhog Day? We used to have the same problem
Except the recent trend is that the Sox turn these “messes” around quickly.
Has anyone inquired on Victorino? He’s posted decent stats since returning from injury
Sox would have to be blown away with the struggles of the OF and their goal of contending next year. Don’t see it happening personally.
The Red Sox are not going to contend next year or the year after that. They are 2 maybe 3 years away from being a contender. But if things break right and prospects develop and they can get lucky on a couple FAs they will contend for the next 5 years after .
They are in no worse shape then they were in 2012 and are only 7 GB from the wild card this year. Can easily seem them bouncing back and being a 85 win talent level team that with luck could get around 90 wins and make the playoffs. Don’t be so quick to write teams off baseball is a crazy sport.
Zack Lee and Paul Maholm for three months of Lester. Haren to bullpen. Maholm flipped by Bosox for lower prospect.
I’d hope that the Red Sox could do better than Zach Lee.
Not sure why they would want Maholm either, seems like they are finally going to let the youngsters pitch as they called up Webster.
lol no. If the Sox are going to give up negotiating rights with the 2nd best pitcher per fWAR this year, it’s going to cost Joc Pederson.
lol no. Dodgers won’t trade Pederson for three months of Lester.
I’d agree that it seems like a crazy price, but players, especially high quality pitchers cost that. You know, water in a drought and all that.
That’s essentially what they just got for Peavy, no way they trade Lester for that.
Jon Lester to the O’s for Hunter Harvey, who says no?
Doubt they would trade in their division unless the O’s overpay.
That probably would be an overpay for a strict rental. It isn’t like the O’s or Jay’s can resign him. Plus they need him the most, unless you think Chen and Buerhle are #1 starters
Hunter Harvey is a gamble since he’s only in A ball. Plus the Sox are flush with young pitching. Would think they’d get a guy in the upper minors who addresses a need in 2015.
Lester to the M’s looks good, even though they need offense. Might have a chance to sign him long term since he’s from Tacoma.
Sox need offense. Mariners need right handed hitters, same as the Sox. Not a good trading partner at all.
Lester and Dodgers
Always seem every year red soxs and dodgers talk about a trade
The problem with Timid Ben seems, he’s afraid to deal any of his precious prospects for proven talent. He’d rather sign mediocre FAs to short term contracts in the off season than trade for a proven talent. He’s like King Midas counting his gold. Problem is, there are only so many MLB slots and not every prospect is a future star.
Look back and see how many highly touted prospects were either total busts or just mediocre. In Cliff Lee’s last three trades for prospects, not a single impact player was traded for him!
Worked pretty well last year.
That was last year. Sox fans are paying top dollar for tickets and concessions and deserve more than this AAA product that’s been rolled out. They lost Ellsbury and Saltalamacchia and never replaced either.Lousy job THIS YEAR.
Brock Holt > Ellsbury
Well yeah Ellsbury is not worth the contract the Yankees gave him.
Ellsbury has been worth something like half a win more than Jackie Bradley Jr. this year and he’s making $20 million more a year and Salty wanted a four year deal. Those were smart baseball moves.
Look at Bogaerts! He can’t hit and his fielding is atrocious. We can only hope that he improves. Every Sox prospect is heralded as the next Babe Ruth and plays like the next Don Buddin.
Exactly, Arthur! It’s why they need to trade some of these “gems” for real players.
I’m getting flashbacks to Pedroia’s first season in the majors…
Even Mike Trout’s first stint wasn’t spectacular…not saying Bogaerts will be Trout but there is certainly an adjustment period that just takes longer for some players. I think we got a bit spoiled by how Bogaerts played last year. I just hope he doesn’t go the Middlebrooks route.
Yeah! Prospects that have to adjust to MLB pitching are DUDS man! They should not have to go through any adjustment period once they get here!
Like Cameron Mabry, who was the next big thing, or was that Gordon Beckham? Or was that Austin Jackson? Or was that Jesus Montiero? Or was that Justin Smoak? I know, Lars “Justin Morneau Clone” Anderson! I won’t even get into the pitching busts across MLB.
Cameron Mabry? Or Cameron Maybin? Are there busts? Sure. But do you declare prospects to be busts after a slump at the age of 21?? Hardly. Did Jackie Bradley struggle a bit? Yup. And look what they have now. Since changing his stance, he’s posted a 108 wRC+. Or maybe you’re talking about like Mike Trout, who hit .220/.281/.390 his first time up. My goodness. Give the kid some time.
What about Derek Jeter, Mike Trout, or many others?Josh Beckett was RotoWorlds number 1 prospect in 2002. I’d say he had a successful career.
Or Carlos Gomez…or Carlos Gonzalez?
Bogaerts was hitting over .300 at one point. Then went on a horrendous slump that dropped his average almost 70 points. He has shown signs of coming out of it. Give him a chance.
Right? How dare a 21 year old struggle in his first full season in the big leagues. The nerve of him!
That’s silly. Why would Ben be trading his prospects right now? The team is not competitive. Save that for the offseason. And the “mediocre” free agents that he signed won a World Series, so it can’t all be bad.
Well, let’s look at the track record. Melancon for Hanrahan (Holt saved that deal), Reddick for Bailey, Iglesias for Peavy. I’m not impressed. If Lester goes to the Dodgers, he’ll probably trade him for Carl Crawford and say “NOW we have some hitting”.
If the understanding is you are going to have to pay lester market value and you are going to do it….. trade him. Get a great haul with a package of players.
But you can likely sign Lester cheaper now than once he hits free agency. We’ve seen many times before, once the bidding starts all bets are off. If he goes to free agency he will sign for the highest dollar amount.
Lucchino came out the other day and said they were tabling contract discussions until the off season. So… signing him now isn’t going to happen.
Re-sign Lester & Miller! That is a must, not a choice.
Trade Lester and sign him as a free agent!
Bingo
OOTB idea:
Price to Red Sox (trading 1/2 year of Lester for 1 1/2 years of Price).
Lester to Mariners.
2 Top prospect(s) to Rays (one each from Red Sox and Mariners).
Chewbacca defense.
I’ll have to pass on that.
The Red Sox and the Rays would never make a trade like that.
Someone to overpay for Lester;
Dodgers;
Andre Either
Matt Kemp
Red Sox:
Jon Lester
I’m not sure why the Red Sox would want either one of those players.
Right. Yasiel Puig and Dee Gordon for Jon Lester
Not sure why you’re being sarcastic. How would Kemp or Ethier be an improvement over what the Sox already have at those positions for cheaper?
Ethier is a 30 plus guy who’s clearly on the downslide. Kemp is more interesting, but his contract is ridiculous.
Ethier is basically a more expensive Daniel Nava.
Ethier and Kemp for the second best pitcher in baseball? YUCK!!
You can’t be serious. Not only is that not an overpay; the Red Sox wouldn’t even let you finish your sentence before hanging up the phone. Why in the world would they want two terrible outfielders who have two of the worst contracts in the game? Get it together man.
I thought you said overpay?
While the dodgers are at it they should “overpay” some more by giving the Red Sox Crawford back….
Not to mention Koji. I’ll bet the Tigers aren’t done with their bullpen project yet
They got a great deal on Peavy. If they think there aren’t going to be competitive, I’d sell everything that isn’t nailed down and position myself for the future. Lester would get a terrific return, in all likelihood, if you consider what Peavy just went for. Personally, I wish the Yankees would be sellers and not buyers.
Why would they be selling only 3 games out and in the second wild card spot? Cashman has done a great job so far giving up almost nothing for McCarthy and Headley. Both trades have ended up looking like steals.
Still don’t understand the re-signing of Stephen Drew. Jose Iglesias had massive potential.
he also had massive shin problems.. red sox knew what they were doing… and Tigers knew what they were getting also.
should’ve given him a chance! 🙁
No way the Tigers “knew what they were getting”. They would not have made the deal.
they get medical reports before consummating any trade. They get the entire history of Iglesias…they knew but they made the deal because they saw the upside not the downside.’
Could the Red Sox get Seager/Pederson and a few other prospecrs in a Lester deal or is that too much for just a 1/2 season of Lester?
I think they could get something of that value, but I’m not sure they could get those specific players. The Dodgers seem reluctant to move them.
They might be able to swing Lester with a package of Lee and Urias and a few lesser prospects if they really don’t want to move Peterson or Seager
Pretty safe to say that Urias is untouchable for half a season of anybody.
As much as Id love to have Urias, I prefer Pederson. I’m feeling desperate for outfield help.
If they won’t give them up for prince then I doubt they would for Lester
The Mariners would probably be willing to give up a lot for Lester. I mean, A’s and Angels already made moves.
A package of Franklin and two of Seattles young promising arms might get it done it they really wanted to but I think Seattle would be smarter to upgrade their outfield because their pitching seems to be fairly solid
Hunter Harvey and Jonathan Schoop for Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia. Sounds fair to me.
Pedroia isn’t going anywhere
I don’t think he will either.
What could the Sox get for Lester? What does everyone think about these possibilities?
Indians:
Lester and Uehara for Clint frazier, danny salazar and a low level prospect
Mariners:
Lester for Elias and Peterson
Cardinals:
Lester for Carlos Martinez and Piscotty/Grichuk
Pirates:
Lester and Uehara for Meadows/Glasnow, Kingham/Bell and an extra pitching prospect
**Edit**
Dodgers:
Lester and a bullpen piece for Pederson and Urias
From the Cards maybe Grichuk and a lower pitching prospect . Cards don’t look short term and is not in a win at all cost mode. If the Red Sox want Lester back they need to re-sign him and not trade him unless they want to go 6 years at $130 million. Lester can’t accept a drastically lower offer from Boston in an open market , the players union won’t allow it.
Fair enough, but looking at the cost of SP this deadline, it would cost Martinez and one of the OF prospects to get the Sox to budge, which is why i think the dodgers or Pirates have a better chance at pulling the trigger
Pirates might deal Bell and Kingham since their outfield is set and they are desperate to win but can’t see Dodgers giving up Pederson or Urias since they already have Kershaw and Greinke.
But they are in a WS or bust season, If they feel even the least bit threatened they will make a move
The player’s union can’t exactly stop him if he wants to take a lowball offer.
Here’s what I need clarification on:
The Sox aren’t willing to trade Koji, based on reports, because they want to keep him after next season. However, the Sox say the same thing about Lester and they’ve shown basically no reason to think they will step up (McAdams basically said they were afraid to go past 4 years..).
So if they are so cheap on Lester, a guy that they should be desperate to keep because he’s a proven commodity and he’s their own guy, why in the world would anyone expect them to keep Koji around?
They’ll go low on Koji (like 1/5mil with incentives) and some team might decide to go like 2 and 14-15 and now the Sox lose out on a player that has tangible trade value RIGHT. NOW. Time and time again the Sox, who are a big market team, go low and lose out. Koji will be no different.
I’m tired of the logic of this team. I don’t understand it.
The logic comes with the qualifying offer. If Koji takes it, which he likely would, they will gladly pay $15 million for one year. This team is afraid of years, not dollars. If he doesn’t take it, a first round pick is likely to net them a better prospect than they would get in a trade for two months of a 39 year old closer.
Qualifying offer for a 40 year old closer…? I don’t get it. They won’t be in contention next year, what’s the point.
What’s not to get? There’s no reason to believe Koji won’t be effective next year. Why wouldn’t they offer a one year deal? They expect to be in contention.
They would absolutely be willing to pay $15 million if it was only a one year deal. Money isn’t the issue for them. And if he doesn’t take it, they get a first round pick, which would be better than what they could get for him in a trade.
Just a quick observation about some of the Red Sox fans, coming from a Yankee fan. Some of you are beginning to resemble what the mythical Yankee fan is supposed to be like. Trashing the front office that just brought you a world series? Yes, they had a lot of luck last year, but they also made a lot of very shrewd moves. And you have a good farm system. That didn’t come by accident. Maybe they don’t do everything right, and maybe you won’t win the Series every year, but that’s pretty darn good management.
I cannot see the Red Sox getting a lot in terms of top prospects for what could be a two-month rental. The best deal that I could imagine the Red Sox making is Lester for Matt Kemp. The Dodgers are the one team who could trade for Lester and potentially lock him up long-term on the spot. It’s not like Ben Cherington is going to be talking to Brian Cashman.
The Red Sox could probably get the Dodgers to pay enough of Kemp’s contract to bring him down to approximately $15MM per year if they gave the Dodgers a 72hr negotiating window. Trading Lester to the Dodgers and him signing with them long-term is probably the next best thing from their perspective to him signing with them long-term.
The Red Sox could probably swap Will Middlebrooks for Scott Van Slyke as well. The Dodgers could then either keep Middlebrooks and play him at 3B or swap him with the Mets for Daniel Murphy. Middlebrooks would probably make a better platoon partner for Lucas Duda than Eric Campbell and Murphy could either play 2B, moving Dee Gordon to SS and Han-Ram to 3B or just play 3B.
Trade Lester in exchange for a 15mil-a-year Matt Kemp? No thanks.
Why not? What do you think the Red Sox are going to be able to get for Lester? The odds are less than 50/50 that they resign him unless they are willing to give him six years and $150MM, which is what I think that he is going to get this offseason. Kemp at $15MM per year would be a good deal for Lester, because he will be a much better hitter in Fenway than he has been at Chavez Ravine.
If we got the Giants #2 & #11 prospects for Peavy (at least according to MLB.com) then I expect us to get a very nice return for Lester actually.
Because he could honestly make the Dodgers win the WS this year. Teams pay big time for opportunities like that
That’s not the point. You don’t count on 3 rookies to start the season, and add an inexperienced starting rotation minus Lester, and then expect to contend.