Who was that?

That guy on the mound for the Red Sox yesterday. I didn’t recognize him. The box score says it was “Matsuzaka.” I wonder if he’s related to Daisuke Matsuzaka, the guy of 100 pitches. Maybe some distant cousin?

The Sox closed out the road trip by taking the series from Toronto. Now, obviously, a 2-4 road trip isn’t exactly something to get excited about. But, I really only ask for a .500 road trip, so they were only a game off of that. And, if you add in the rag-tag line-up they were using, I’ll take the 2-4. Hopefully the Sox can just keep things close until the Calvary comes back.

Unfortunately, that seems to get farther and farther away. Beckett made a rehab start, so that’s promising. All the broken bones look like they’ll take some time to heal, though. This being July, it makes you think about doing something at the deadline. Unfortunately, with injuries it’s not exactly that clear.

At the moment, the Sox are missing two starting pitchers. One might think it was a perfect time to get involved in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. And, that might have made some sense. The Sox don’t need long-term help. They could use the rental. Of course, that means one of the starters needs to go to the ‘pen once their all healthy. But, it would only be for a half season. Then, things would be back to normal next season. And, it would make for an entertaining rotation for the rest of the year. But, the price would have been too high for a rental that you hopefully wouldn’t need in August. (I know. You always need Cliff Lee.) So, it wasn’t all that bad that the Sox let him go to Texas. Another possibility would be a lesser tier pitcher. Someone that wouldn’t take a lot of prospects, but would be a nice fill in for a month or two, and you wouldn’t mind having as an extra part. Maybe a Ted Lilly type? But, it would appear that the injuries to the rotation will take care of themselves sooner than later. What about the line-up?

The big off-season talk was acquiring Adrian Gonzalez. His bat certainly would be useful in the middle of the line-up while the Sox are playing with spare parts. The problem? The only healthy guys the Sox have play his position. He could play first, or DH. They’re pretty well taken. He could play first, and move Youk to third. But, third is also pretty well taken. So, that would remove him from the equation. Unless, I suppose, you just trade for him now, and put Youk in left field once a week until Beltre leaves after this season. But, that’s probably not practical.
It’s also probably not practical to simply replace players who are hurt. Let’s pretend that the Rangers were willing to let Ian Kinsler go. You add him, and then have both Kinsler and Pedroia on the roster pretty soon. That’s overkill. So, you need to try for a lower tier guy again, as a fill-in. Well, the Sox already have one of those. How about catcher? That’s a better idea. If Joe Mauer were on the block, he could be brought it. Like Beltre, V-Mart could be gone after this season. You could figure something out once Victor comes back, and have his replacement moving forward. But, Joe Mauer isn’t available. And, the next best catcher is V-Mart. So, that’s not helping. I can’t think of an available catcher that’s an improvement over Cash. (Is I-Rod available?) So, that’s a no.

The outfield? That’s, maybe, where something could be done. Right now Ellsbury is still out. Cameron apparently is going to miss some time periodically with his sports hernia. So, an actual replacement might just work. I’ve heard the name Jayson Werth tossed around. Not a bad idea. Bring him in now while Ells is still down. Once everyone’s back, you assume he can find enough playing time subbing for Cameron and Drew to make it worth the rental. Not a bad idea…assuming the rental price is low enough. The Sox still have all their outfielder for another year. Another name I heard was Scott Podsednik. He’d be cheaper. That might not be a bad direction either. That’s my idea. Grab Podsednik for a prospect, and call it a deal. After all, the bullpen still needs some help. And bullpen arms often require overpayment.

Kerry Would could get expensive.