Winter Meetings Slam Door on Red Sox Options

Boston Globe, GETTY IMAGES/FILE

Eric D. Schabell
Contributing Writer

Wake up and smell the coffee.

You missed quite an exciting day two of the Winter Meetings that saw a flurry of action around the outfield market.

Let's get you caught up, shall we?

There has been talk of the Red Sox being associated with improving their outfield after Jacoby Ellsbury was lost to the Yankees. They were in on Matt Kemp, then looking at Mark Trumbo, and finally we have Shin Soo Choo that could be an option.

Most of these players would have required a large investment and tie the Red Sox to them for multi-year deals.

Well, yesterday there was a flurry of dealing that left the Red Sox on the outside in the hall of the Winter Meetings with the door slammed in their face.

Mark Trumbo
In a three way deal between the Diamondbacks, White Sox, and Angels, the Diamondbacks pulled in Mike Trumbo to fill a corner outfield spot. To be honest, this was most likely not going to happen with the Red Sox already having Shane Victorino in right field, leaving only left field open. Nobody thinks the Red Sox need to shake up left field with Jonny Gomes and Daniel Nava already on the roster for that spot.

Matt Kemp
The next thing we hear from Jon Heyman over at CBS Sports is that the Red Sox are not going to move on Matt Kemp.
Shin Soo Choo
That leaves just one big name outfield option.

Jerry Crasnick from ESPN stated it best with regards to the Red Sox pursuing Shin Soo Choo:

"After dumping the Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford mega-salaries and winning the World Series, the Red Sox don't seem inclined to jump into the deep end of the pool with another $100 million-plus free-agent deal. And if the Sox were going to spend nine figures on an outfielder, wouldn't they have made a more serious push to bring back Ellsbury?"

It looks like the Red Sox are going to have to be satisfied with the outfield options that they have, Shane Victorino in right field, Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field, Jonny Gomes in right field, and Daniel Nava platooning where needed.

Curtis Granderson
On another note, there was a surprising comment from Curtis Granderson about being contacted by the Red Sox shortly after the winning the World Series:

"You'd think they'd celebrate for a little bit," said Granderson, who was officially introduced as a member of the New York Mets on Tuesday. "There were some initial talks right there. Then as soon as Ellsbury ended up signing, there were more." But the Red Sox "decided they wanted to go with Jackie Bradley Jr., who's obviously a great individual and is going to go out there and do some great things for them," Granderson said. "And they had some other moves they wanted to go ahead and take care of first."

Seems the Red Sox front office were hot on the trail to fill Jacoby Ellsbury's spot in center field, as reported by Jason Mastrodonato from MassLive.com.

If you are looking for a Red Sox splash at the Winter Meetings, Ian Browne sums it up for you:
That's a wrap for the explosive day two of the MLB Winter Meetings.

Post a comment or via twitter @ericschabell with your thoughts.

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