Red Sox Interested In Chad Qualls
Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle appeared on XM Radio’s Baseball Beat yesterday, and reported that the Red Sox are interested in Astros reliever Chad Qualls.
Qualls, who will turn 29 this year, has a 4.50 ERA through 40 innings. His strikeout rate is way up, but so are the hits and home runs. He was worked pretty hard last year with 81 appearances. Qualls is a long way from free agency. A few items of note: he dealt with shoulder tendinitis this spring, and has a likely two-game suspension coming for throwing a ball into the stands.
Latest From Gammons
The man himself, Peter Gammons, had a blog posting on Saturday that I neglected to mention here.
- Gammons mentions some suitors for Mark Buehrle: the Mets, Cardinals, and Mariners. He draws the Jermaine Dye/Padres connection we have seen in the past.
- Gammons believes the Astros will move one of Brad Lidge, Dan Wheeler, or Chad Qualls. However, that was written before Lidge hit the DL for a strained oblique. Houston would also love to move Morgan Ensberg, but that’s nothing new.
- The Dodgers are looking for a corner infield slugger, but aren’t interested in Troy Glaus or Scott Rolen. Adam Dunn isn’t in the Dodgers’ plans, either. Dunn’s defensive limitations really seem to be hindering a deal. If they are going to give up multiple young future stars, it’s going to take Mark Teixeira. In other words, they’d go all-in.
- Bill Stoneman is "cautiously looking for a bat." Cautious is the name of the game with Stoneman. It’s a seller’s market for power hitters. Imagine what the Marlins could get for Miguel Cabrera.
Gammons Rumors: Qualls, Garland
In today’s blog post at ESPN.com, Peter Gammons slips in a couple of trade tidbits.
While discussing the Boston bullpen, Gammons remarks:
"They’ll keep looking at relievers on other teams — like Houston’s Chad Qualls — and figure they’ll get a mess of innings out of the starting rotation."
Gammons may be speaking in the hypothetical, but he may be implying that the Red Sox are looking into Qualls’ availability. The 28 year-old righty has been tough to hit the last two seasons, but a K/9 below 6 isn’t closer material.
Another Gammons bullet point regarding the Red Sox:
"The Red Sox were told that Jon Garland is not available. Period."
That suggests they called on him, though I’m not sure at what point. There’s something to be said for a 210 inning, 4.50 ERA guy to add some stability to the rotation. The Astros seemed inches from acquiring Garland in December, but got Jason Jennings instead.