Red Sox Thoughts

I agree with Chad Finn that the Red Sox should not hesitate to trade prospect Jon Lester if the right deal came along but I disagree with him that I would be willing to trade Lester as part of a package for Mark Teixeira.

Mark Teixeira is a very good player but I wonder if he's a bit over-hyped. These are Teixeira's career numbers playing on the road:

Teixeira - .265 BA / .357 OBP / .493 SLG / .851 OPS

Sure he can hit a bunch of home runs but I really don't see how this Teixeira is any real improvement over Kevin Youkilis. And just for fun - take a look at how Teixeira has struggled at Fenway Park (18 games) and the enthusiasm for giving up premium prospects for Teixeira shrinks further:

Teixeira (at Fenway) - .207 BA / .373 OBP / .293 SLG / .666 OPS

Partially what has made Jon Lester available (in my mind) is the emergence of Kason Gabbard who threw an absolute gem of a game last night. Gabbard is 4-3 in 9 career big league starts but what is impressive is his ERA (3.44) and his batting average against (.230). Lester has 15 MLB starts and his ERA (4.76) and batting average against (.295) pale in comparison (and yes I know all about small sample sizes).

The 23-year old Jon Lester is an inspiration to us all with his battle to defeat cancer and he seems to be completely healthy now. However, not every minor league pitching prospect turns out to be a good major league pitcher and you can count me among those who are skeptical that Jon Lester can make a big impact long term for the Red Sox. His trade value, meanwhile, may never be this high again.

I am still firmly of the opinion that the best course for the Red Sox regarding the corner infield positions is to simply keep Kevin Youkilis at 1st and re-sign Mike Lowell at 3rd (2-years and $18 million could do it). It is not a given that a player can flourish in the pressure that comes with playing in Boston (see Renteria, Edgar) but Lowell has shown that he can not only handle the pressure he can be a pillar that takes the pressure off teammates.

Overall I think the Red Sox are in pretty good shape. When Curt Schilling returns to the rotation I would keep Gabbard as the 5th starter and move Julian Tavarez back to the bullpen. That allows the Red Sox to add the right-handed reliever so many teams are looking for without lifting so much as a finger (I would at the same time pick up Tavarez's option for 2008 to make sure he doesn't have financial worries clouding his head).