The Red Sox are scouting Royals ace James Shields today, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets, noting that in September, teams typically keep eyes on impending free agents in whom they have interest. The Red Sox have spent much of the season pursuing hitting, signing Rusney Castillo and acquiring Yoenis Cespedes and Allen Craig, and they’re expected to address their rotation this offseason. Shields is one possible top-tier option, with a return of Jon Lester being another. Previous rumors have connected the Red Sox to Shields. Here are more notes on the Red Sox.
- Prospect Eduardo Rodriguez has been so dominant since being acquired for Andrew Miller in July that there might be a chance he could be the Red Sox’ next ace, WEEI.com’s Alex Speier writes. “He has stuff that can possibly dominate a lineup a few times through,” says Triple-A Pawtucket manager Kevin Boles. “Plus arm speed, feel for three pitches. His velocity and the life out of his hand with his fastball, it’s explosive. He’s got swing-and-miss capability. … He looks like he’s one of our best guys.” Speier notes that getting a prospect of Rodriguez’s quality for a rental of a reliever is very rare. After arriving from the Orioles, Rodriguez was terrific in six starts for Double-A Portland before moving up to pitch for Pawtucket in the playoffs.
- One problem with projecting the Red Sox’ future is figuring out how long David Ortiz will continue to hit, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal writes. At age 38, Ortiz has hit .264/.357/.517, with a number of high-impact home runs. As a big slugger in his late 30s who’s still relatively healthy and consistently productive, Ortiz is already a somewhat unusual player, and it’s unclear how long the Red Sox will be able to count on him.
The Sox won’t live or die by Ortiz’ numbers. He’s earned a bit of leeway.
As long as Ortiz continues to keep one step ahead of MLB’s steroid testing, he should be good for another 4-5 years.
He’s never tested positive for steroids.
The 2003 steroid survey test he did.
Who knows if he still uses anything though.
Please do show that test result.
People will go on and on about other players that failed the 2003 test, but for some reason Ortiz is often able to avoid the controversy.
All we know is that he tested positive for something 10 years ago, and hasn’t since. He was not suspended. He has never been linked with Anthony Bosch or BALCO or Brian McNamee.
So all we have is this one positive test from a decade ago, with no suspension attached. Nobody knows what he tested positive for. It could’ve been roids. It could also have been weed. Or an allergy medication.
Ever think that might be because it was not valid?
The 2003 test was not about steroids. He tested positive for a banned substance. We don’t know anything more than that.
I think I saw an article about Ortiz on Fangraphs a few weeks ago. Te idea was that slugger types who are productive from 36-38 tend to keep hold steady for a few more years. They tend to be strong until they hit that one tough injury, and then it’s a pretty sudden drop.
I read a study of the most similar players to Ortiz (sluggers who continued to hit into their late 30s) about a year ago, and the best comp to Papi was Pops, Willie Stargell. Stargell played well at 38 and 39, stealing an MVP award in the latter year, but then went off a cliff after he got hurt in his age-40 season (when he was still mashing).