Tuesday’s Hot Stove

To think just a year ago we were talking about how the team must resign Mike Lowell and that it would be a crime if the Sox didn’t bring him back after his MVP season. Flash forward a year and everyone has this guy’s bags packed for him and he’s ready to be shipped out on the first Greyhound out of South Station.

We’ll get back to the Lowell stuff in a moment. The story that caught my eye and got me very excited was the Tigers looking to trade for Julio Lugo. That’s right, that Julio Lugo. Are you serious? Let’s hope they are. Even better on that rumor front is that the Tigers would send Dontrelle Willis to the Sox in the deal.

Now I’m not stupid, I know Willis had a sub par year (0-2 with a 9.38 ERA) and was sent to the minors to find his control, but at this point do you care? He’s owed just $4 Million more than Lugo over the next two years. So you get a questionable pitcher instead of a shortstop that can’t hit or field and probably won’t play since Jed Lowrie is pencilled in as your starter. Hopefully Willis could reconnect with Beckett, his buddy from the Marlins and rediscover his command. Worse case scenario he’s a bust. Oh well, you were going to ship Lugo out for nothing at least you’re getting something back that could help the team.

Back to the Lowell thing. The speculation more and more is that the Sox are going to be the high bidders for Mark Teixeira. Sean McAdam, of the Herald and formerly of the Providence Journal, thinks that with the Yankees bidding $140 Million for Santana and trading for Nick Swisher, that they’re out of the Teixeira bidding. I agree on the fact that trading for Swisher doesn’t make sense if you’re going to try and get Teixeira but we all know the Yankees have enough payroll freed up to make a run if they wanted.

So if the Sox get the services of Teixeira, Lowell would likely be the odd man out. You don’t trade Youk who is young and you have control of for the next two years. The Sox I’m sure have backup plan if the Teixeira signing doesn’t pan out.

The Jake Peavy to the Braves trade seems dead. It would be interesting to see if the Sox got into that bidding. We know they have a lot of young talent but how much would it take to get a perennial Cy Young candidate? I doubt the Sox are going to get involved with Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden ready to make the leap from the minors. Word is that Buchholz looked really good in Arizona fall league and that Bowden may surprise people and make the team out of spring training.

If anything, it’s the most exciting time of the baseball offseason. It’ll be interesting to see how the team takes shape and how others in the division do in the offseason. Back tomorrow with who knows what. Celtics vs. Knicks? Who knows.