These are some guys that i think the red sox should look into, and that may potentially be available

-carlos zambrano(26)
the cubs are looking to move him, to avoid losing him to free agency.  and once he hits free agency, he's gunna hit big. young and dominant, zambrano will only be bought by a team looking to part with its entire farm system, and then some.  but he has shown that he can be a ace, providing you see the first half of 2008 as an outlier.  any team that gets him better be sure they can afford to resign him, otherwise a two month rental will be a waste.  luckily the red sox have a fat wallet.

-erik bedard(28)
power pitching orioles ace, probably untouchable, but by the time the orioles are competitive, bedard will be far past his prime.  he has slowly become one of the mlb's top starters, though no one has seemed to take much notice. here's to hoping the res sox do.

-jon garland(27)
nothing special about garland, except he gets guys out, and chicago is proven to be looking to deal.  his ERA spiked in 2006, with about every other chicago starter.  this was probably due to 2005's heavy workload down the strech and in the playoffs.  An extremely healthy guy who saw his Batting avg against spike in 2006, only to have it return to career norms in 07, to a result of a 3.51 ERA

-aaron harang(29)
ace of the reds, but look closely and you can see they arent going anywhere for a while.  the reds would be ill advised not to deal their number one starter while he still has peak value, because by the time the reds are relavent again, harang may need a cane.  he isnt the youngest guy on the list, but high K rates and low ERA's are nothing to shake a stick at.  this guy is one of the best in the NL

honorable metions
these are the guys the red sox should consider that arent quite good enough to attract major interest

-carlos silva(28)
the twins think they are contenders, but time, the tigers, and indians, will soon prove otherwise
silva is a low strikeout guy, who relies on a toungh sinker and control to get guys out
2006 saw his ERA spike due to a combination of an increasing number of hits falling, and a decreased ground ball percentage.  he's gone back to his old ways this year, posting a batting avg against and ground ball rates similar to his career norms, leading to a high threes ERA

-dontrelle wills(25)
the soon to be overpaid marlins ace has had a poor 2007 so far, but has a track record of health and effectiveness.  however, despite his popularity, he his no ace.  and moving from the NL to AL, and from florida(a hitters park) to fenway will certainly boost his ERA.  he's better than he's pitched this year, but look dor him to be a decent to goos starter if he joins the AL.  his age is deffinetly on his side, and the marlins have shown that they are willing to entertain offers for him

noah lowry(26)
san francisco has slot of rebuilding to do, and lowry may be young enough to hang around until they are good again. bur for the right offer, who knows.  i wouldnt expect him to be traded this year, but instead as he approaches free agency at the end of 2009, when the giants will be in the midst of reconstruction. 

Tags: pitchers, red sox, rumors, trades
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lets look at this in terms of the future
right now we have schill(40), beckett(27), dicek(26), wake(39), and tavarez(34) in the rotation
we might add buerhle(28)
people who looklike they eventually may join the rotation, or contribute in a swingman type role are are gabbard(25), lester(23), david pauley(34), abe alvarez(24), clay buchholz(22), and michael bowden(20)
of those people, gabbard, pauley, and alvarez are expected to become 5th starters at best, though i like gabbard as being perhaps the next bronson arroyo

clearly our rotation has some age to it, and currently 2 studs who are just entering their primes, and should be top starters for the next 4-5 years (i believe that a players top seasons come at age 26-30, with 27 being the peak)  we may get lucky and see dicek or beckett turn into a schilling or a randy johnson or david wells, and be effective late into their careers, but thats to far into the future to worry about.

if we acquire buerlhe, we risk giving up  some top prospects, like brandon moss(23), jed lowrie(23), and jacoby ellsbury(23). i would think that trading moss or maybe coco crisp(27), wily mo pena(25) or ellsbury would make the most sense, seeing as though lugo sucks, and lowrie may be needed at SS in a few years. personally, i would like the redsox to trade either crisp or pena with some combination of lesser prospects to acquire buerhle, or perhaps bowden, seeing as he is a raw talent that may yet blow up in our faces

if we acquire buerlhe w/o managing to lose lester or buchholz in the process, next years rotation could look like this: beckett(28), matsuzaka(27), buerlhe(29), lester(24), and buchholz(23), with gabbard, pauley, and alvarez waiting in the wings

so lets trade for buerlhe, giving up bowden and pena, and maybe some lower prospect, if we even have to give up that much
losing pena, or bowden wouldnt hurt, seeing that bowden is a ? w/o a foreseeable rotation spot, and pena has nowhere to play

chicago wins, getting prospects and jermaine dye replacement\and the red sox win, having the 08 rotation contain a possible 5 aces
and at worst, we have a couple aces and the rest decent-good pitchers, and gabbard in the wings protecting against a flame-out

Tags: baseball, prospects, red sox, rumors, sports, trade rumors, trades, white sox
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