Brass ready for deadline
Hard work done, Sox now wait
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Red Sox general manager Mike Hazen said Thursday he only made a handful of calls that day, that it’s “still been fairly quiet overall.”
Hard to believe, isn’t it? But as Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline looms, a slight downturn in chatter for a buying team seems more a byproduct of all the groundwork that came before it.
“We’ve talked to almost everybody, so everyone knows where we kind of stand,” Hazen said. “I’m assuming it’s a matter of teams gathering full information on what the costs are going to be for their players. I’m sure we’ll start getting callbacks. That’s what’ll start happening over the next few days: You’ll start getting callbacks on the thoughts you had a few days ago — ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘ anything there,’ ‘we’ll get more than that,’ ‘you guys are out,’ or ‘hey, would you guys want to get in?’ “That’ll all start next.” It’s hard to imagine the Red Sox walking away from the deadline without at least one more move — and it’s also hard to imagine them doing much more than that. The uncertainty is thick for the time being because the winds are liable to shift at any time.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s reputation is to surprise, to go big, to be aggressive — but Dombrowski has also hammered home that his perspective in the big chair with the Red Sox is different than it was in his final years with the Tigers. Expectations of Dombrowski as the fearless prospect slinger may need to be re-adjusted, even tempered, in a world where he is taking a longer view after already making big moves.
“I think it’s going to be an extremely busy couple days for the industry,” team president Sam Kennedy said yesterday. “I think you’ll see and hear the Boston Red Sox listening to a lot of different ideas and proposals and concepts today, tomorrow, the next day. You know, with that second wild card, it’s amazing how teams really don’t determine whether they’re buyers or sellers right up until the last minute.
“Now, Dave and Mike Hazen and (senior vice president of baseball operations) Frank Wren were very proactive in making moves early (by trading for Drew Pomeranz, Aaron Hill and Brad Ziegler). I wouldn’t rule anything out as the industry prepares for the deadline Monday, because things can happen very quickly. Truthfully, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if more happens here.”
Kennedy, Hazen and Dombrowski are just a part of a gaggle of Red Sox executives in Anaheim with the team specifically for the deadline. To name a few: Senior vice president for player personnel Allard Baird, assistant general manager Brian O’Halloran, vice president for amateur and international scouting Amiel Sawdaye and director of pro scouting Gus Quattlebaum are also here.
The Brewers are expected to move strong-hitting catcher Jonathan Lucroy, and the Mets may be the favorites to land him. With the best offense in baseball, the Red Sox don’t appear to need Lucroy — not enough to outbid other clubs with greater need, at least — although he has a cheap $5.25 million team option for next season and would be a help.
The Red Sox have to wonder how they’ll do when Sandy Leon inevitably comes back to earth. He entered last night with four hits in his last 19 at-bats, but was still carrying a .386 average. Can Leon and Ryan Hanigan handle the load down the stretch?
Christian Vazquez’ offense has been subpar and he’s now at Triple-A Pawtucket. But, in a postseason setting, a grip on the pitching staff is most important, and Vazquez is capable there if needed.
“Pretty good,” Hazen said of the team’s catching situation. “I think the way Sandy’s played, being able to hit from both sides of the plate is a definite advantage. You know, (Hanigan’s) been solid. And we have (Vazquez) too, and hopefully getting (Blake) Swihart back at some point. I think we feel pretty good from a depth standpoint.”