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Red Sox Keeping Tabs on Los Angeles Dodgers’ Hiroki Kuroda as Trade Deadline Approaches

As the chances of seeing Carlos Beltran in a Red Sox uniform seem to wane, it appears that Theo Epstein has turned his attention to upgrading the starting rotation.

According to Fox Sports' Jon Morosi via his Twitter page, the Sox are "keeping tabs" on Dodgers righty Hiroki Kuroda. Morosi did say in his tweet that the Sox' attention to Kuroda is "nothing serious."Although there aren't many concerns with the Sox rotation at the moment with Josh Beckett pitching like a Cy Young candidate, John Lackey stringing together a few straight impressive starts, and Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz soon returning from their respective injuries, Kuroda could only help.

Kuroda is sure to be a hot commodity as the MLB trade deadline nears due to the great season he's having and the lack of good starting pitchers on the trade market. Despite a 6-12 record (largely due to a lack of run support), Kuroda has a 3.19 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP on the season. One potential roadblock to a deal for the righty is that he has a full no-trade clause.

Morosi and Ken Rosenthal also reported yesterday that the Tigers, Indians, and Rangers are all also interested in Kuroda.