Hot Stove 2010: Options to fill LF

The offseason is all about choices, especially for a big market team like the Red Sox. What choices give you the best chance of winning, while preserving value and organizational depth? Filling a hole by getting the best available player now may not be the best move, because it could leave you hamstrung somewhere else. As a team with a number of needs this offseason, let’s take a look at some of the options to fill left-field and compare them.

Links: Varitek exercises option, Bay, and Hot Stove chatter

As expected, catcher Jason Varitek has chosen to exercise his $3M player option to stay with the Red Sox in 2010. My guess is that the front office will keep him on as the backup catcher until he starts hitting (er, whatever that was) like he did in the second half of 2009. The Sox have already announced that they plan to make Victor Martinez the “full-time” catcher next year, which basically means he’ll be catching a lot more than 50% of games, as he has done for the last few years. Let’s hope his body and hitting hold up under the extra workload.

All the comparisons have been between Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, but Dave Cameron touts Mike Cameron (no relation) as a better free agent signing. Preview: it is about the defense, but even if you discount the UZR numbers 50%, it still works out in Cameron’s favor. Bay is likely to sign for as much as 5/85, while Cameron may get 1/10. R.J. Anderson confirms what I said about the rumor that the Sox had an offer of 4/60 on the table for Bay, that it’s probably just a Scott Boras lie.

Hot Stove 2010: Milton Bradley available

I know, he’s an injury risk and a punk, but outfielder Milton Bradley is reportedly eminently available. After signing him to a 3-year deal just last offseason, the Cubbies can’t wait to deal him. As we know, the Red Sox front office is all about “value” these days (for better or for worse). In baseball, one man’s garbage could be another man’s treasure; and this garbage could come cheap, given the circumstances.

14-7: Buchholz, Sox sweep Rangers 8-3

In the annual early Patriot’s Day game, Clay Buchholz (1-1) faced his former teammate Kason Gabbard and worked through some early jams to earn his first win of the season, and a four-game sweep of the Texas Rangers. A costly error and some defensive gaffes cost the Rangers, as they fell 8-3.

13-7: Sox come back yet again, 6-5

Kevin Millwood pitched a gem of a game for the Texas Rangers, holding the Red Sox scoreless through six innings. Meanwhile, the Rangers had scored early on Tim Wakefield (2-0) and Milton Bradley added a mammoth 3-run Monster shot in the 6th to make it 5-0. Everything changed starting in the 7th inning, when the Red Sox scored two runs on RBI singles by David Ortiz and J.D. Drew to make it 5-2. The next inning, Boston made short work of Wes Littleton and closer C.J. Wilson, scoring four runs to take the lead. Wilson ended his outing with three consecutive walks, the last one of Sean Casey which forced in the go-ahead run in an amazing come-from-behind 6-5 victory.

11-7: Ortiz slams Rangers, 11-3

Boston rolled to another victory tonight on the strength of its offense and a good showing by the pitching staff, 11-3. The rebuilding Rangers came to town, starting former Sox farmhand Luis Mendoza (0-2) against Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-0). This was one of those games the Sox were supposed to win.