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The Red Sox lost a number of players to minor league free agency this week. These players are no longer a part of the organization, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them come back:
P Devern Hansack, P Charlie Zink, P Jose Vadequano, SS Angel Chavez, SS Iggy Suarez, P Dave McKae, 2B Travis Denker, P Jarod Plummer, P Derrick Loop, OF Brad Correll
The Red Sox also lost a number of players when they were taken off the 40-man roster and they opted for free agency:
RP Takashi Saito, RP Javier Lopez, 2B Nick Green, C George Kottaras, 1B/OF Jeff Bailey, 2B Gil Velasquez, RP Marcus McBeth, RP Billy Traber, RP Enrique Gonzalez
No one expected Saito to return, but the loss of lefties Lopez and Traber means that we have to sign at least one lefty reliever this offseason. There are a number of quality major league free agents available, and names like Casey Fossum and Chris Capuano are available as minor league free agents.
As the minor leagues wrap up their seasons, there’s a lot of activity to report on. Adam Kilgore gives his nominations for best performances at each position. Congratulations to the Lowell Spinners, who won the Stedler Division title this year.
Look up Daisuke Matsuzaka’s latest rehab start for the Portland Sea Dogs, and you’ll see a very ugly line there: 2IP, 5 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks with 1 HR. The silver lining is that all the damage came in the first inning, and he zipped through the second inning on nine pitches with good control while throwing close to 100%. Let’s hope he can show some more of that up here with the Sox.
Some of the goings on in the Red Sox farm system as we approach the trade deadline:
It looks like someone else besides Julio Lugo still believes he can play shortstop in the Major Leagues. In case you haven’t heard yet, Lugo was traded to St. Louis for 1B/OF Chris Duncan, son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, and a PTBNL. Cards fans have a right to be dismayed, but he can’t be too happy with this deal either. Here’s my evaluation:
Clay Buchholz turned in a pretty good outing in his first start of 2009. Despite striking out just three batters, he showcased the stuff that has all of baseball asking for him at this year’s trade deadline. He used his fastball to good effect, and that changeup was quite effective; the curve, not so much. I think it’s pretty clear he belongs up here, so I fully expect Brad Penny to be dealt at the deadline.
Jim Callis, a noted scout for Baseball America, talks about the Red Sox pitching depth in the minors. For those of you clamoring for us to deal for Roy Halladay, sometimes it helps to get an outside perspective on what we already have in our farm system. And if that’s not enough pitching prospect Kool-Aid for you, Amalie Benjamin runs down Junichi Tazawa, Nick Hagadone and Casey Kelly here.
A neat little fluff article about younger brother Josh Papelbon. Drafted in the 48th round back in 2006, he’s a very different pitcher than the other guy we all know and love. It must be hard to get out from under that shadow. A submariner who throws 80 mph? Hey, I’m pulling for him to make it.
Congratulations to these Red Sox, who achieved notable milestones this past week:
- David Ortiz, who collected his 1,000th RBI
- Terry Francona, who won his 800th game as a manager
- Tim Wakefield collected win number 10 already! Is this guy ever gonna stop pitching?
In case you missed it, here is the video of Nick Green’s narrow escape from a flying broken bat last week. My heart almost stopped during this play, thinking, “oh no, this means we have to play Julio Lugo!”
