State of the Red Sox

As I write this the Red Sox are 8 games back in the AL East and 7 back in the AL Wild Card. Time to panic and become sellers? Yes and no. Here are the five moves I'd suggest Boston make in the next two weeks.

1. Trade Jake Peavy. Like right now. Peavy has his World Series ring and his Duck Boat. All he is doing now is taking up a spot in the rotation that would be better used by a returning Clay Buchholz or a Rubby Del La Rosa. He's 1-6 (not his fault) with a 4.93 ERA (his fault). He's got an ERA+ of 81. That's below replacement level - replace him. Eat half his contract and send him to an NL team in need of a 4th or 5th starter. Look for this move to happen. It's just so apparent at this point to everyone involved.

2. Bring up Mookie Betts who has a .960 OPS with 29 steals so far in AA and AAA this season. Gordon Edes seems to be arguing against this move but I think it is one that has to happen and the sooner the better.

3. Trade Jonny Gomes. If you bring up Mookie Betts you have to play him and Gomes would be one of the guys standing in his way. Gomes has the reputation as a winner and a good clubhouse guy - use that reputation to trade him to an NL team in the playoff hunt for a bag of balls.

4. Trade AJ Pierzynski. The guy is a dick and I feel dirty rooting for him. Christian Vazquez would be a big improvement defensively and the team needs to learn if he can hit at the MLB level. Besides what are you really losing offensively with Pierzynski posting a 75 OPS+?

5. Sign Jon Lester to a 5-year $100 million contract. It's going to happen anyway so do it now to show the fans the team is thinking long term.

Bonus move - once Shane Victorino is healthy trade him too.

Linky Links

Happy day after Thanksgiving! Here are some stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- To give thanks - you must first be grateful. There's no reason you can't be grateful every day of the year.

- Good deal - All 5 Game of Thrones books for Amazon Kindle for just $10. I paid full price for them and would take advantage of this deal if I didn't already have the e-books.

- I can be very "scrutable" and after I brush my hair I think it would be fair to say that I'm "sheveled"

- Heh heh - Hope you had a Happy Twerk-y Day

- Cool - gardens on the Moon

- Touching story of Jonny Gomes and his biggest fan

- An oral history of the classic WKRP Turkey Drop episode

Red Sox Offseason Moves - Position Players

Here's how I see the Red Sox roster for position players going forward for the 2014 season. Pretty long position-by-position breakdown so if you are interested - it continues after the break.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Jon Lester for Wil Myers? Alex Speier has an excellent look at the hypothetical (at this point) deal. For the record - if I'm the Red Sox I probably make that trade.

- A's donate one full playoff share to charity. Nice idea by Jonny Gomes and nice gesture by entire A's team.

- Holy crap! That's a bird straight out of a Stephen King horror story. Feathers the size of Samurai swords! Holy crap!

- Nice look at Notre Dame's head coach Brian Kelly's ability to adapt. Of course they forget to mention that everything Brian Kelly knows about football - he learned at Assumption College in Worcester.