Boston Red Sox Have Plethora of Moves on the Horizon
By DJ Smith
The recent signings of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez seem to be just the beginning of the Red Sox offseason. The main attraction for teams this offseason has been starting pitcher Jon Lester, and while the Red Sox have made it clear he is their number one target, they are ready to walk away if the price gets too high.
Jake Wesley, the high school freshmen who has taken MLB writers and fans by storm on Twitter, has broken the Sandoval and Ramirez signings and now has been reporting on the very latest with Jon Lester.
It all comes down Lester’s decision whether or not to return to the Red Sox. Let’s start with the scenarios that are possible if Lester should choose to leave Boston for good:
The Red Sox would go hard after Cole Hamels, should Lester decide to leave and the thought would be having Hamels replace Lester as the ace of this rotation. In order to get Hamels they would most likely have to trade shortstop Xander Bogearts and possibly another throw in player (Possibly Will Middlebrooks).
Another route the Red Sox could go if Lester decides to leave is going after Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos, and if they were to go that route they could dangle outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Reds who are in need of a power-hitting outfielder.
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Now if the Red Sox were able to land Lester, they would still need to make several moves in order to formulate a balanced team. In order to do so they would need to get rid of an outfielder (i.e. Cespedes), and if the Sox were looking at more starting pitching they could look at either Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Rick Porcello or Washington Nationals starter Jordan Zimmerman.
It’s also worth noting that Cespedes is not a fan favorite amongst the clubhouse and the coaching staff, which would make moving the All-Star almost a necessity. Even though Cespedes is an All-Star caliber player it may be hard to move him with only one year remaining on his contract, that may yield teams to give up too much for a one-year rental. Top on the fact that the Red Sox front office has a enormous amount of confidence in Cuban defector Rusney Castillo, it all but appears Yoenis will be heading for the door sooner rather than later.
This offseason appears to be one for the ages for the Boston Red Sox, there have only been a few instances where the Red Sox have gone out and been this aggressive, this early on in the off-season. The signings of Sandoval and Ramirez certainly have captured the national attention recently, but we all know that those two are just the tip of the iceberg. Lester is the prize amongst most Major League clubs and once his domino falls, expect to see a blizzard of moves to follow.
(h/t @mlb_nl_al)