Red Sox hot stove weekly round-up (11/12 -11/18)

Here’s this week’s wrap-up of Red Sox hot-stove news:

• It was a wild week for the Red Sox managerial search. The team met, wined and dined Dale Sveum, but didn’t offer him a job. Sveum was also a favorite to land the Cubs job and sure enough – the next day he was hired to manage the north-siders. The move was met with some speculation that Ben Cherington had wanted to hire Sveum, but that Larry Lucchino, Tom Werner and John Henry overruled him. Since then, Lucchino, Cherington, and Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy have all come out refuting that sentiment, saying that the team has been taking a ‘collaborative’ approach to the process since the beginning

• Also being called in for second interviews will be Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr., Blue Jays 1B coach Torey Lovullo, and Tigers 3B coach Gene Lamont.

• Somewhat of a bombshell was dropped on Thursday as word leaked out that former Texas Rangers and New York Mets skipper Bobby Valentine was being considered for the job. Initially it was thought that he was injected into the process by Lucchino, but it later came out that Cherington had been talking to him all along, but it had been kept a secret. Valentine is somewhat of a polarizing figure – known for both his large baseball acumen and his equally boisterous personality. Proponents have praised his independence, personality and ‘take no guff’ approach. Critics are concerned that his independence could lead to miscommunications with the front office and that he’d be ill-equipped to handle the constant media frenzy that comes with being the skipper in Boston. Nonetheless, he’s a fascinating candidate.

• According to a team source, Michael Silverman has reported that there may be another high-profile secret candidate in the mix.

• The Red Sox have been shopping some of their out-of-options pitchers at this week’s GM meetings in Milwaukee. Some names included Franklin Morales, Andrew Miler, Felix Doubront, Michael Bowden and Scott Atchison. Alex Speier of WEEI reported that the team may consider moving some of these players off of their current 40-man roster depending on how much interest is on the market.

• The Red Sox and Cubs still haven’t settled on appropriate compensation for Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein. Talks are going to be tabled until after the Rule-5 draft.

• The Red Sox are said to be removing VP of player personnel and international operations Craig Shipley from his current position. The possible replacement? Former Expos and Mets GM Omar Minaya.

• The Red Sox remained engaged on the free agent front – checking in with Bob Garber who is the agent to free agent pitchers CJ Wilson and Roy Oswalt. The team also kicked tires on relievers Fransisco Cordero & Matt Capps as well as the majority of the shortstop market.

• There was a strong indication earlier this week that the Red Sox were in negotiations to possibly bring in San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell. It was rumored that Bell is reconsidering accepting arbitration from the Padres and is now open to come to the east coast. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe also said that Colorado
• Rockies closer Houston Street may be on the Red Sox radar as a potential trade candidate.

• The Red Sox have reportedly made an offer to DH David Ortiz. Papi has yet to accept or decline their offer. The only other team supposedly interested in Ortiz is the Toronto Blue Jays according to Scott Miller. Papi has been very open about his desire to return to Boston. He said should he get a better offer, he’ll allow the Red Sox to match it.

• Josh Reddick is going to have wrist surgery, but should be healthy in time for opening day. There has been little movement on the OF bats as well as free agents in general. Now that the CBA is effectively done, expect teams to begin to get a lot more active

• The Red Sox will join the swath of teams in on Cuban defector Yeonis Cespedes. The team will host a private work out for him in the Dominican Republic tomorrow.

• Prospects 3B Will Middlebrooks, C Che-Hsuan Lin and Drake Britton have been added to Boston’s 40-man roster, protecting them from Rule-5 draft eligibility.

• Barry Meister, agent for SP Tim Wakefield, said it ‘would be a shame’ if Tim Wakefield did not get the chance to return to the Red Sox next year. It seems as if Wakefield wants to pitch next year and yes, he’s drawing some interest.

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Incoherent MLB layoff musings and random rambling

Before Red Sox fans head for life rafts like rich people on the Titanic, maybe it’s worth taking an aside to point out that um – the Yankees aren’t playing particularly well, either.

Despite Boston’s seeming implosion over the past few weeks, the Yankees are still only up 3.5 games as of today. They’ve lost 6 of their last 9 games and perhaps most worrisome – the man they need to have pitch well – CC Sabathia – isn’t.

Sabathia was terrible in August, sporting a 4.68 ERA in 42.1 IP and has a WHIP over his past 6 starts sitting over 1.60. He gave up 50 hits in August and is well on the way to eclipsing that this month – nearly 12 more hits than he’s given up in any other month in the season.

Wallace Matthew of ESPN.com speculates whether the new six-man rotation the Yankees have employed is to blame and maybe he’s onto something:

“Sabathia worked on four days’ rest in 16 of his first 22 starts. The results were a 14-5 record and a 2.62 ERA. Since then, the numbers are 5-3 and 3.89. More alarmingly, he has allowed 81 hits in 69 1/3 innings, an average of 10.5 hits per nine innings pitched. “

But at the end of the day, it’s neither here nor there. The Yankees lack of pitching depth appears to be catching up to them. Needless to say, it’s the same song we’ve been hearing in Boston for a little while now.

The reality is that while the Red Sox and Yankees have really good teams, they also have some big holes. While it’s hard to decipher through the media maelstrom whether or not the Sox and Yanks have bigger holes than the other contending teams, I think it could be reasonably concluded that the other contenders closed the gap considerably, if not surpassed the AL East monsters at the trade deadline.

I’d even go as far as to say that I don’t think either team is the best in baseball. In fact, they might not even be the best teams in the AL right now.

Playoff lore is littered with teams that seem to find their groove at the right time, and if that’s any indication of what the future might hold, then maybe we should all be wary of the Detroit Tigers, who have torn through the second half of the season and – if the standings hold through to the end of the season – will face the Sox in the Divisional Series.

Justin Verlander is a man among boys, which we knew already. What we didn’t know is that Doug Fister would turn out to be one of this season’s best acquisitions. Since being traded to the Tigers in July, Fister’s gone 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA and even recorded a 13-strikeout game against the Cleveland Indians. He was having a good year under the radar in Seattle already, but I don’t even know if even Doug Fister’s mom would have seen this coming. All of a sudden, the Tigers look like a tough match up for anyone.

The Rangers are doing what they do – hit lots and lots of baseballs and pitch well enough to make you tread with caution, but also speculate what the world would be like with a dominant pitcher or two in their rotation. With nothing reasonably priced out on the trade market, they decided to substantially beef up the bullpen adding dominant middle relief arms Koji Uehara and Mike Adams to go along with the already potent Neftali Feliz, Darren O’Day and Darren Oliver. Beefy bullpens can lead to big Octobers. Could the Rangers be the team to beat in the AL once again this year?

The real eye-opener for me this year however, is the depth of the National League field. For the first time in forever, I feel like the two most balanced teams heading into the playoffs are both NL ball clubs. The Milwaukee Brewers already have as potent a middle of the order as there is in baseball with Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart. They’ve fielded a balanced starting rotation and added depth to their bullpen by acquiring Fransisco Rodriguez from the Mets in June. Since then, they’ve run away from a seemingly competitive NL Central pack and have turned the race into a virtual cakewalk.

Not to be outdone, the Phillies went out and finally got that bat they needed, adding Hunter Pence at the deadline. While they might have a few holes here and there in the ‘pen, it might not really matter as Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels will certainly drive them deep enough into ballgames where it might not matter too much.

I’m not ready to jump on the Diamondbacks bandwagon yet, but I wasn’t ready to ride along with the Rockies in 2007, the Rays in 2008 and the Giants in 2010 and well, look where that got me. The Braves are lurking in the shadows as well. The Braves probably have the best bullpen in the field and solid starting pitching, but it remains to be seen whether this team can put up the runs they need to on a consistent basis.

In years past, it’s been kind of easy to distinguish between the real contenders and the pretenders. This year seems to be a lot more ambiguous and that the gap seems to have been substantially leveled – especially due to some shrewd moves at the deadline by the Brewers, Phillies and Tigers.

There’s a lot more balance this year and that’s good for baseball, but not for the Red Sox and Yankees, who may find themselves both being bounced earlier than anticipated.

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