With less than a week left before Christmas, the Red Sox are almost done with their off-season shopping. One more item on the wish list remains: A lefty for the bullpen. Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler strengthen the 'pen from the right side, but the hole vacated by the non-tendered (and rapidly declining) Okajima needs to be filled with another go-to southpaw. Brian Fuentes is still out there on the free agent market and Felix Doubront waits in the wings as an internal option, as does Rich Hill. Joe Beimel, Will Ohman, Dennys Reyes, Arthur Rhodes, and JC Romero (remember him?) are also on the market. Fuentes would likely require a 3-year commitment, which the Sox are loath to make. Former Sox targets Scott Downs, Matt Guerrier, and Jesse Crain have already signed on for 3-year deals with other teams. Dan Wheeler took a bit of a hometown discount, being a native Rhode Islander, and agreed to a 1-year deal while Jenks took 2-years.
The Sox would like to have Doubront start the season in AAA and, although Rich Hill was successful against lefties last season, the sample size was microscopic at only a handful of innings. I think their best bet would be to try to sign one of the free agents whose name is not Fuentes or Romero (been there, done that in the case of the latter) to a 1 or 2 year deal. Once they get that lefty, the 2011 team, barring a few minor-league transactions, will be pretty much complete. It's been a huge offseason for the Red Sox, even more so than the Phillies, who added Cliff Lee to their uber-rotation, leaving the Yanks in the lurch. On paper, it looks like the tables have turned in baseball's epic rivalry, but remember-- no season, no game, has ever been played on paper. Still, I like the Red Sox' chances...
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