Potential Moves Loom For Red Sox

By Joel McAuliffe


With the July 31st trade deadline quickly approaching, Theo Epstein and his brass are getting closer to setting making decisions on what they will do come trade time, but that time has not yet come.

A team official said that the team is still a short time away from knowing what will be available, considering the number of teams that are borderline sellers.

"I think we’re a couple weeks away from really knowing who is available because there are so many teams that haven’t decided whether they are buyers or sellers.  Right now it would be tough to make reasonable trades." 

Teams like the Rays, Mets, and Rockies have yet to decide whether to mail in the 2011 season or make moves with the intention of competing for a playoff spot.

With J.D. Drew batting .233 and Darnell McDonald batting .136, it appears as though adding outfield depth will be a major topic discussed on the other end of Theo Epstein's phone this month.

"As for our interest in an outfielder, I think it’s obvious that we need to get more production from the corners and we hope the guys we have will perform closer to their expected levels.  If not, we’ll consider all internal and external options to improve areas of weakness."

Internally, the Red Sox appear to have the apparent heir to J.D. Drew for next season in Ryan Kalish, but Kalish has been hindered by injuries in 2011 and hasn't played since April 21st.

Reddick is batting .377 with 20 hits in 53 at-bats

Josh Reddick has seen most of the playing time in left with the absence of Carl Crawford and has not disappointed. Reddick is batting .377 with 20 hits in 53 at-bats to go along with 2 home runs and 11 RBI's.

With Daisuke Matsuzaka lost for the season, Clay Buchholz, and John Lester on the disabled list, starting depth is something the Red Sox could look to add too.

The team however does have depth internally. Tim Wakefield has stepped in and produced as the replacement for Matsuzaka. Wakefield has started 11 games this season, five of those have been quality starts, and four have been at least seven innings. In those games, Wake posted a 3-1 record with a 2.79 ERA.

Wakefield is 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA in 2011

Andrew Miller, once a Marlin castoff is 3-0 with a 3.57 earned run average in his four starts and Alfredo Aceves has filled in when needed going 1-1 with a 5.14 ERA in the four starts.

Down on the farm, the Red Sox have former All-star Kevin Millwood and prospect Kyle Weiland.

Millwood, who over nine starts with Triple-A Pawtucket, is 4-0 with a 4.15 ERA allowed three runs or fewer in seven of those nine starts.

Weiland, who earned a victory on Monday for Triple-A Pawtucket is 8-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 17 games.

To build a team capable of winning in October there are necessary tweaks that need to be made, the question is will the Red Sox make the right ones.

Report: Carlos Beltran a target for Red Sox?

According to a report from Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, the Mets are “listening” to potential trade offers for outfielder Carlos Beltran.

The Yankees have no interest in the 34-year-old Beltran, according to Kernan, but he reports that the Red Sox could be a landing spot. Beltran is in the final year of his seven-year, $119 million contract and is owed about $8 million for the rest of the 2011 season. The right fielder has 13 homers, 57 RBI and a National League-leading 26 doubles this season.