Waiting Teams Out May Be Best Route For Red Sox On Trade Market
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's pretty clear the Boston Red Sox need some help.
The team is scuffling after a hot start, going 9-14 so far in the month of June. Their historic offensive start bailed out their abysmal rotation early on, but now that the bats have gone a bit quiet, the team is struggling to win ballgames. They've watched their lead in the AL East disappear, and they now trail the Baltimore Orioles by four games in the division.
The needs are pretty clear for Dave Domborowski. Boston needs another starter (or two) behind David Price, who has been hit or miss all season, and the surprisingly consistent knuckleball of Stephen Wright. The bullpen is already overworked before we hit the All-Star break, and the depth on the bench is non-existent.
All of this has Dombrowski in a bit of a pickle, but WBZ-TV's Dan Roche believes the best play is for the Sox to wait teams out.
"Unfortunately he's in the bind of seemingly every Boston sports team and management: He doesn't want to overpay. He can search baseball for cheaper starting pitching solutions," said Roche, naming Minnesota's Ervin Santana (2-7, 4.64 ERA), Oakland's Rich Hill (8-3, 2.25), and San Diego's Drew Pomeranz (7-7, 2.76) as options. "Beyond that, he'll have to part with a prized prospects such as Andrew Benintendi, Yoan Moncana or Anderson Espinoza."
It may also be worth it for Boston to take a chance on someone trying to earn a new contract, whose price tags won't be as high when the trade deadline rolls around on August 1. San Diego's Andrew Cashner (3-5, 4.75), Houston's Doug Fister (8-4, 3.36), Philadelphia's Jeremy Hellickson (5-6, 4.23) and Matt Moore (3-5, 5.04) are a few reasonable options.
As for the bullpen, their best bet may be to address the issue internally. Pat Light is a prime candidate to help, sporting a 2.05 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 26.1 innings for the PawSox this season. When it comes to their lack of depth, while they should receive some help when super utility man Brock Holt returns this week, Dombrowski should still be in the hunt for a starting outfielder.
Catch all of Rochie's thoughts on the current state of the Red Sox in the video above, and tune in to Sports Final and Sports Final OT every Sunday night at 11:35 p.m. on WBZ-TV!