The Red Sox’ shake-up may not be done just yet, even after a couple of high-profile signings in the first two days of baseball’s winter meetings.
The Sox have been among baseball’s busiest teams this offseason, and they’ve kicked it up a notch since arriving in Nashville for this year’s winter meetings. In the last month, they added catching help with David Ross. They added outfield depth with Jonny Gomes. All of that led to the reported signings of first baseman Mike Napoli and outfielder Shane Victorino at the meetings, addressing two more glaring needs.
The Sox may not be done, though, and it could be through trade that they continue to retool a roster that won 69 games last season and finished last place in the American League East.
CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman reports that the Sox are listening to offers on “just about everyone” right now, including starting pitcher Jon Lester and center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury.
[tweet https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/276353652598374401 align=’center’]
ESPN’s Buster Olney added some information, too.
[tweet https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/276361430360535040 align=’center’]
This, of course, means any sort of deal is far from imminent. The tweet is purposely vague, and it’s also worth noting that there aren’t even any rumored deals on the table. If true, however, it does speak to how open the Sox sound to doing just about anything this offseason.
Ellsbury rumors began to percolate on Tuesday night when the signing of Victorino became reported. The Boston Globe reported that the Red Sox were open to trading Ellsbury, especially if they were able to re-sign Cody Ross. They would presumably then move Victorino to center, making Ellsbury expendable. He has one year left on his contract, and he’s expected to be looking for a monster deal next offseason — if he isn’t signed to a contract extension.
Lester, on the other hand, is a little bit more peculiar. Boston has a clear need for starting pitching, so dealing Lester may not make much sense. Unless, of course, there was some sort of blockbuster deal on the table. However, there have yet to be any reports — aside from this one — that have mentioned Lester in anything, so it’s probably safe to assume that any sort of deal may be down the road.
