Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Your Morning Dump...where the Sox should call Miami for Stanton

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

If the Red Sox, who begin what they hope will be an accelerated rebuilding with deep pockets and a deep farm system, want to see what else the Marlins might sell, here's an easy hypothetical that is probably pure fantasy, but one Cherington is required to look into nonetheless. He needs to call the Marlins and find out if Giancarlo Stanton can be had.

There is no logical reason why he would be available. If Bud Selig, on a whim/power trip, ordered an entire redrafting of the major leagues tomorrow, Stanton would arguably be the third pick behind the two newly crowned Rookies of the Year, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. Stanton hit 37 homers last season and led the National League in slugging (.618). He is not eligible for free agency until 2017. And he just turned 23 last week. Players don't get much more appealing than that.

A reader asked this compelling question on Twitter Tuesday after the news of the blockbuster broke: Marlins call Sox & offer Stanton for Barnes, Bradley, & Webster. Cherington says...

Cherington says, "Hell, yes, and do not hang up that phone. I've just gotta clear it with ... [sigh] ... Larry."

Globe: Sox must ask about Stanton

As soon as Stanton tweeted his wasn't happy about the trade, Scott Priest and I both had a similiar thought process. Get him to Boston. The trade that Finn brought up may do it. But let's get more creative than that.

Bradley is as dynamic a player the Sox have had in their farm system in quite some time. The goal shouldn't be to trade him for Stanton, it should be to pair him with Stanton. So let's readjust this trade: 

Iglesias, Barnes, Webster, & Brentz for Stanton & Yunel Escobar. Sox send $4 million in cash as well.

So the Sox give up four of their top ten prospects (according to Baseball America) for Stanton & Yunel Escobar, who has $5 million on the books the Sox will eat. The Sox will then have Stanton, Ellsbury, Ross/Kalish (if the Sox resign Cody) for next season and the season after would turn into Theo Epstein's wet dream: Stanton, Bradley and Jerry Sands. Hell, depending on the circumstances that could be the outfield in July/August. 

Of course this is just fantasy because if the Marlins did make this deal they should be contracted from the league since or get relegated to AAA.  But the way the Marlins are offloading players, it's worth a shot.

Rest of the Links: Herald: Sox: No Thanks | Baltimore can't count on fine fortune in 2013 | CSNNE: Should Sox have pursued deal with Miami? | WEEI:  An X-factor in the corners?

ESPN: Sox after Marlins' starters

Despite the Red Sox' best efforts this weekend to convince management to sell, it appears Ben Cherington is going harder after improving the 2012 club.

Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston reports that the Sox have "expressed interest" in Marlins' starters Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez.

The Marlins are obvious targets for a possible fire sale. They don't appear to be serious contenders this year, even after spending all that money in the offseason, and have a history of making major trades (including, obviously, with the Sox). Johnson is 5-7 with a 4.35 ERA; Sanchez 5-7 with a 3.94 ERA this year.

Meanwhile, Johnson is only signed through next year (at $13.75 million) and Sanchez is a free agent after this year. It doesn't take a genius to assume that if the Marlins decide to trade one or the other, it'll be Sanchez, as Johnson has a higher ceiling and is already signed for 2013.

McDonald doesn't mention what prospects would be involved, though I'd have to assume the Marlins will set their sights high. I'm cool with any of the redundant players Brian MacPherson mentioned in his trade deadline primer, but obviously the ones he labels untouchable are just that if we're talking about Sanchez. Were I Cherington and Josh Johnson were on the table, I'd have a harder time saying no to a higher-end talent; Johnson is a legit no. 1 who just hasn't been as dominant this year.  

Recap: Red Sox and Marlins trade punches, Sox prevail

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

This was nothing close to the duel between Buehrle and Buchholz from last week. The Marlins struck first, but the Red Sox threw the last punch and came out on top with the 7-5 victory.

I expected another pitchers duel after the last meeting these two pitchers had exactly a week ago. Instead each offense figured these guys out and started the scoring very early. Clay Buchholz gave up a 2-run homer to Logan Morrison in the top of the first, putting the Sox down early yet again. David Ortiz answered right back with a 2-run homer of his own in the bottom of the first and the Sox didn't fall behind again. Kelly Shoppach continued his hot streak against Buehrle, hitting his 4th career homer off of him, a 2-run home run in the second. Cody Ross returned to the lineup tonight and didn't waste time making noise. Ross added a third Sox' home run in the 4th, a solo home run, his 9th of the season. The final two runs came on a Gonzo sac fly in the 5th and a Middlebrooks double in the 6th.

Back to the awful pitching by two good starters. These guys could not get settled on the mound and were the exact opposite of what they were last week.  Clay Buchholz looked awful from the start and it looked as if the Marlins would run away with it. Then, Mark Buehrle took the mound and stuck it up just as bad as Buchholz. Buchholz went 6 innings, giving up 9 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 1 walk, and struck out 3, and it was just enough for the victory. I guess this game was somewhat similar to their last meeting. Each starter had similar outings, each offense put up similar numbers in a close game, and the victory, loss, and save were awarded to the same players. To sum it up, the Sox got the victory and that's all that matters.

Box Score 

How we see it goin' down: Marlins - Red Sox series

First Pitch: Tuesday 7:10, Wednesday 7:10, Thursday 7:10

Arms: Tuesday: Mark Buehrle, LHP (5-7, 3.41 ERA) vs. Clay Buchholz, RHP  (7-2, 5.38 ERA)

Wednesday: Ricky Nolasco, RHP (6-5, 4.37 ERA) vs. Felix Doubront, LHP (7-3, 4.17 ERA)

Thursday: Carlos Zambrano, RHP (4-5, 3.92 ERA) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (0-2, 5.73 ERA)

                                        Yard: Fenway Park    Watch it:  NESN    Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 33-33 (4th NL East)	Record: 33-33 (Last AL East)
On road: 16-15	At home: 14-19
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Won 2
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Solano (.367)	Average: Podsednik (.387)
Homers: Stanton (14)	Homers: Ortiz (16)
RBI: Stanton (42)	RBI: Ortiz (43)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Nolasco (6)	Wins: Buchholz/Doubront (7)
ERA: Buehrle (3.41) | Cishek (1.91)	ERA: Backett (4.14) | Atchison (1.24)
K's: Sanchez (80)	K's: Doubront (81)

Last time

We saw this movie in Miami last week for a 3-game set, and the Sox walked away with 2 victories to close out the series after dropping the first game. Josh Johnson didn't give the Sox much to work with in the first game. The Sox responded with Clay Buchholz in game 2 and Felix Doubront in game 3, and the Sox outscored the Marlins 12-3 in those two games.

This time

Laser Show: David Ortiz

The only other guy that would piossibly perform better would be Scott Podsednik, but his trip to the DL has me going with Big Papi. Ortiz has been exceeding expectations all season long and continues to rack up the power numbers. Ortiz took Ricky Nolasco deep in their last meeting and with the DH back in play, we know Papi will see plenty of playing time.

Pitch Around: Jose Reyes

Reyes killed the Red Sox last week. Jose lead off game 1 for the Marlins with a triple off of Josh Beckett. So, what does he do to follow that in game 2? A triple to lead off the bottom of the first off of Clay Buchholz. Reyes did not hit a triple in game 3, he only hit a solo home run off of Felix Doubront. The Sox have to make sure he doesn't get any hits down the right field line or in the triangle in center.

Don't Fall Behind: Mark Buehrle

If Clay Buchholz didn't one-up Buehrle on the mound, we would be talking about how great he pitched against the Sox. The Sox didn't have an easy time against him and luckily Kelly Shoppach had his number. Mark Buehrle will be out for revenge and the Sox can't let him get comfortable.

How we see it goin' down

This series is almost identical to the last with the same pitching match-ups with the exception of Thursday's Zambrano/Matsuzaka match-up. The Red Sox have to get streaky very quickly to become competitive in the division. If the clubhouse can get their act together and play well, they can put some runs up on the scoreboard. I feel good about the pitching match-ups and see the Sox sweeping Miami, even with Dice-K on the mound on Thursday. I may be too optimistic.

Beckett gives up four early runs & Sox offense struggles in 4-1 loss to Miami.

Yep, this team is playing like crap again.

Josh Beckett made his return to Florida and the Marlins welcomed him by dropped scored all four of their runs in the first two innings while Josh Johnson contained the offense as Miami gets the 4-1 win.

It started real quick as Jose Reyes got a leadoff triple off of Beckett and  Donovan Solano managed to get enough of a Beckett pitch to get the sac fly to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. After a Giancarlo Stanton single,Logan Morrison got one into the gap in right center and gets himself an RBI double. The next batter, Gaby Sanchez, gets an RBI single to make it 3-0. 

Solano continued to be a pest as he got an RBI single to make it 4-0 but after that hit, Beckett got a grip of the game and retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, the only blemish was a seventh inning walk to John Buck. Beckett's final (and deceiving) line: 7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. 

The Sox offense could not figure out Josh Johnson as he got out of a two-on, no out jam and didn't get in any other trouble until the sixth where the Sox only managed to only put one run up, via a sac fly, despite having two men in scoring position with the middle of the order coming up. Johnson went seven, struck out seven and walked only one. 

Scott Podsednik had himself a pretty good game batting leadoff, going 3-4 with a run scored & a stolen base. Just a damn shame that the rest of the team went 2-26. The only other bright spot of the night was the return of Mark Melancon as he pitched a very effective eighth inning, getting three quick outs in just nine pitches.

Oh and Adrian Gonzalez got his first walk since May 15th (!!!) in the ninth which was nice but didn't even try to run to second when Miami closer Heath Bell threw a ball past John Buck that managed to go near the Sox dugout. He would've been safe standing even with his sloth-like speed.

There was also a shouting match between home umpire Ron Kulpa & Kevin Youkilis. Kulpa came to the steps to talk to Youkilis, who may have said something at the plate earlier before striking out for the final out of the game.

The Sox have lost four straight and are three under .500 and are now the undivided attention of Bostonians. Grab the Sam Summer's it's going to be a long summer. Then again if some of the players played like the way they complained to umpires, maybe they wouldn't be in the cellar of the AL East.

How we see it goin' down: Red Sox - Marlins series

First Pitch: Monday 7:10, Tuesday 7:10, Wednesday 7:10

Arms: Monday: Josh Beckett (4-6, 4.04 ERA) vs. Josh Johnson, RHP (3-4, 4.56 ERA)

Tuesday: Clay Buchholz, RHP (6-2, 5.77 ERA) vs. Mark Buehrle, LHP (5-6, 3.49 ERA)

Wednesday: Felix Doubront, LHP (6-3, 4.34 ERA) vs. Ricky Nolasco, RHP (6-4, 4.36 ERA)

                               Yard: Marlins Park   Watch it:  NESN (NESN/ESPN - Mon.)  Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 29-31 (Last AL East)	Record: 31-29 (4th NL East)
On road: 15-12	At home: 16-16
Streak: Lost 3	Streak: Lost 6
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Podsednik (.368)	Average: Solano (.474)
Homers: Ortiz (14)	Homers: Stanton (14)
RBI: Ortiz (38)	RBI: Stanton (42)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Buchholz/Doubront (6)	Wins: Nolasco (6)
ERA: Beckett (4.04) | Atchison (1.32)	ERA: Sanchez (3.40) | Choate (0.49)
K's: Doubront (72)	K's: Sanchez (74)

Last time

The last time these two teams met was June 16-18, 2009. The Red Sox won the 3 game series in Boston as Tim Wakefield and Brad Penny won the first two, 8-2 and 6-1 and Jon Lester lost the rain shortened game 3, 2-1. I could analyze the series a little more, but that was a very different Sox team and none of it matters. I mean, Nick Green was the starting shortstop for the Red Sox in 2009. I forgot that guy existed.

This time

Laser Show: Josh Beckett

I'm switching it up a little bit. Josh Beckett has never gone up against his former team and he has been pitching very well. The Sox need him to come through and get them out of this funk. It will be a different atmosphere in the new Marlins Park, pitching in front of 15,000 of his former fans. Josh will do what he has to do and we can only hope the bats will show up to support him in Miami.

Pitch Around: Giancarlo Stanton

The Marlins' 22-year-old right fielder has picked up where he left off in the power category.  After his 2010 jump from AA to the majors, Stanton has been tearing the cover off of the ball. In that 2010 season, Stanton hit 43 home runs between AA and the majors and has hit 48 home runs since then. He is a tall, powerful hitter that will do a lot of damage.

Don't Fall Behind: Ricky Molasco

Mark Buehrle is the best Marlins pitcher going in the series, but the Sox have been able to expose him in the past. Nolasco is one of those pitchers that only a handful of Red Sox batters have seen and will likely be a challenge for some of the first-time opponents.

How we see it goin' down

The Red Sox are struggling, but not as bad as the Marlins. Miami can't get anything going as of late and the Red Sox have their chance to jump all over that. This opportunity cannot be squandered and if the Red Sox can capitalize, they will take 2. They have a good chance to sweep if the offense awakens from the nap they took during the Nationals series.

Watch today's Sox/Marlins game instead of working

I know you were all having a fit, because you have to work instead of watching exciting spring training baseball. Well, don't you worry, because ESPN is making the game available on ESPN3. So take your phone off the hook and put a stack of papers in front of your keyboard to make it look like you are working and enjoy some mid-March baseball at 1:30.

Click here to watch it live.

Olney: Red Sox and Marlins had dialogue about Hanley Ramirez

As expected, Cherington and company looked into Hanley Ramirez. "No traction" in an interesting way to refer to it -- but regardless of semantics, the Marlins don't appear to be interested in what we have to offer. Aaron wrote on Monday that a deal would likely hinge on a package involving Clay Buchholz and/or Kevin Youkilis, and I'd say prospects would probably be involved as well. Hanley may be coming off a down year, but he was among the best players in baseball the years before that.

Such a trade never seemed likely to me anyway. It looks like it will continue to be a quiet winter. There's not going to be Hanley, or Yu Darvish, or Prince Fielder. The best way to look at it is that our offseason acquisitions will be Carl Crawford -- who has to be better than what he submitted last year -- and Clay Buchholz, who will presumably be healthy.

Until then, we need to continue filling bullpen spots and filling out the bench.

Rosenthal: Marlins should trade Hanley

You can count Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal among the growing number of people that not only think the Miami Marlins should trade third baseman(?!) Hanley Ramirez, but that they will. 

His reasoning is pretty sound.  First, Hanely doesn't want to switch positions.  He wants to be a short stop.  And we all know what a laid-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy Hanley is.  If he's not getting his way, there are going to be problems.  The Marlins are acting as if Hanley is gung-ho about switching positions to make way for Jose, but Ramirez has never made such claims.  And, second, despite his shoulder injury and down year last season, trading Hanley would net the Marlins some considerable talent. 

They no longer need a short stop, so why not flip Hanley to fill in the remaining gaps on their squad.  And when you talk about trading Ramirez, one team automatically rises to the top of the list.  Here's what Rosenthal says about the Red Sox as a "possible fit":

New Sox GM Ben Cherington and current Cubs GM Jed Hoyer were Boston’s co-GMs under club president Larry Lucchino when the Red Sox sent Ramirez, righty Anibal Sanchez and two other minor leaguers to the Marlins for righty Josh Beckett, third baseman Mike Lowell and reliever Guillermo Mota on Nov. 24, 2005.

The Sox need two starting pitchers and a closer far more than a shortstop, but surely they would be tempted to reacquire Ramirez. Shortstop Marco Scutaro is eminently available, but the Marlins’ goal in any Ramirez trade would be to acquire a big bat and a starting pitcher.

Third baseman Kevin Youkilis could be the bat. The pitcher? Not so clear.

The Red Sox aren't getting Hanley Ramirez for Kevin Youkilis and some spare parts.  Several teams (Rosenthal's complete list of 'fits' is 20 teams) are going to be calling the Marlins if Hanely is available.  So the Sox are going to have to part with something real to get him. 

I would think the conversation would start (and possibly end) with Youkilis and Clay Buchholz.  That might get the deal done.  I'm not sure the Sox would even entertain the conversation considering how thin their pitching staff is, but as a fan, it intrigues me. 

I'm very high on Clay's talent, but his back scares the bajeezus out of me.  It may have been a one year fluke.  Maybe he's spending this offseason strengthening all the right muscles and it won't be a concern moving forward.  But when you have a young pitcher whose back is so screwed up that it cost him over half a season?  I'm more than happy to let that be someone else's concern.

If we do lose Clay, we have Scutaro and, more importantly, Jose Iglesias that can be flipped for a couple arms.  Scutaro may net you a veteran stop-gap while Iglesias is probably worth something a little more substantial.  

That all said, assuming Hanely does come available, the Sox will absolutely place a few phone calls into the Marlins; but I just don't see him coming back to Boston.  While adding Hanley would make an already absurd offense obscene, trying to project a pitching rotation minus Buchholz makes me want to vomit.

Marlins now chasing Fielder

Absurd contracts to match their absurd uniforms? Check!

Looks like yesterday's panic over Prince Fielder taking his bat to Toronto may have been a little premature.

The NY Daily News is now reporting that the Marlins are trying to reel [or any other witty fishing pun you prefer] Fielder to Miami:

Sources told the News Wednesday that Pujols and the Cardinals are believed to be "a few million dollars apart" on a 10-year contract, and that the Marlins, after pursuing the 31-year-old three-time NL Most Valuable Player vigorously the past two days, have concluded his preference is to stay in St. Louis. They have now begun pressing heavily to sign Fielder, who hit .299 with 38 homers and 120 RBI for the Milwaukee Brewers last season.

It is believed that both players will wind up signing 10-year contracts in the $215-220 million range.

I don't want to say Prince-to-Miami is a done deal, but I don't see anybody competing with the Marlins come contract negotiating time.  They're spending money like the funds are coming out of George Steinbrenner's bank account.  And 10 years $200+ million for Prince Fielder?  Seriously? 

I wouldn't trust his body to hold up for 7 years, let alone 10.  I would have expected him to get something in the 7 year, $150 million range like every other All-Star caliber 1B not named "Pujols".  But 10 years $200 million?  Good luck, Marlins.

Who'd think that less than a year later, Adrian Gonzalez's contract would be an absolute bargain?  Guess he probably should have held out a few more months.