Former Braves GM Frank Wren might be the front-runner for the Red Sox’ open GM position, but ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes looks at other potential candidates for the job now that the Sox have hired Dave Dombrowski to be their president of baseball operations. Given the Sox organization’s strong interest in analytics, some of Edes’ potential candidates, like former Cubs GM Jim Hendry and former Dodgers exec Ned Colletti, seem to me to be somewhat unlikely. Edes notes that Hendry worked with Dombrowski in the Marlins organization, however, and that past ties often help determine who gets hired. Here’s more on the Red Sox.
- Tim Britton of the Providence Journal looks at Dombrowski’s five best trades as GM of the Tigers and Marlins. Dombrowski’s 2007 acquisition of Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for a package headed by Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin unsurprisingly tops the list, which also includes his less-remembered but still very helpful deals for Carlos Guillen and Placido Polanco in Detroit and for Mike Lowell in Florida.
- Clay Buchholz, currently on the 60-day DL with a right elbow strain, is not currently throwing, Tom Layman of the Boston Herald writes. “He feels good enough to throw, but we are evaluating him daily to see where he’s at,” says interim manager Torey Lovullo, who adds that Buchholz has not had a setback. Lovullo says the Red Sox haven’t determined that Buchholz will be shut down for the season. It seemingly wouldn’t be surprising if he didn’t pitch again this season, however. There’s only a bit more than a month left, it takes time to be able to pitch enough innings to start, and the Red Sox are out of the playoff race.
Dave has made some great trades, but as of now i can only see him trying to improve the sox through free agency. He’s has a lot of work to do, and i wouldn’t be surprised to see boston try to sign Price and/or cuetto.
I think you’ll see them target an ace via free agency, as well try to pull off a trade for another good starting pitcher. That way they could have a good 1-2 combo without having to rely on Buchholz or Porcello to stay healthy and rebound.
I’m pretty tired of Clay Buchholz. I doubt they’ll decline his option, but I sure hope they will.
Seems he is always injured. But….. since 2011…. he’s pitched twice as many innings as Pineda.
Good point. I think Pineda is still young enough to shake the injury bug. Buchholz not so much. And Pineda actually looks like a pitcher. Buchholz looks like a stiff breeze would blow him away.
I wouldn’t really trust Pineda to stay healthy either, but he’s been pretty good and is also a much lower risk salary wise.
They’re not exactly great comparisons either. Buchholz is getting up there and hasn’t had a great season since 2010. At 13 million, he won’t kill the Sox payroll, but they have a ton of committed money already and personally, I’d like to spend it elsewhere.
Given that Buchholz has an option that the Sox almost must exercise, I would still think he would try to pitch again this season, even if only on short assignments in rehab. Contractually, both sides would benefit from knowing that he’s recovering on a normal pace and progressing toward game shape, even before the off season starts.
A little off topic but I remember when Miggy was traded, the angels almost had him. But at the time they did not want to trade Howie Kendrick and Ervin Santana I believe was the deal.