Should Boston Red Sox Pursue Cody Ross To Play Right Field?

With what we have learned in the past couple of days, it is apparent that Ryan Kalish will not be ready to play right field for the Boston Red Sox on opening day 2012.

According to WEEI's Alex Speier, Kalish was never really in the mix to be the starter in the first place.

The Red Sox are doing their due diligence in looking for an quality everyday right fielder on the open market, even though they have recently acquired Ryan Sweeney from the Oakland Athletics and still have Mike Aviles and Darnell McDonald on their roster.

While McDonald has played right for the Sox in the past, the idea of him playing there on opening day is less than appealing to me.

Aviles has played a total of four games in right field throughout his career. Generally, he has only played in the outfield 10 times. This makes the idea of him starting the season in right scary.

Sweeney was primed to be the opening day starting right fielder in Oakland. The 26-year-old certainly has potential, but I am fearful of the fact that he is left-handed playing a tricky right field in Fenway. He still needs to develop as a hitter, but I think he could be quite serviceable in a fourth outfielder role.

That raises the question of who is still available. More so, who is still available in the Red Sox price range?

While I'm not discounting that the Red Sox could be literally discussing a blockbuster trade as I'm writing this (I have no idea), it seems logical to fill in the void with a low-risk, high-reward reclamation project for right.

Cody Ross would be perfect.

Ross had a disappointing 2011 for the San Francisco Giants after being the 2010 NLCS MVP and a huge factor in the Giants' World Series run.  He only played in 121 games with a .240/.325/.405/.730 batting line. He added 14 home runs and 52 RBI.

Still, the Sox would gladly take that production from another right-handed hitter. Sure, they would like to get 20 home runs and 80 RBI out of him, but if he only offers that 14 and 52, it would pretty much be the 2007 version of J.D. Drew at about a quarter of the cost.

While Ross has minimal (uh, six games) experience in the American League, I think he's matured enough in his career to be able to handle coming into the beastly AL East and be a contributor. In a lineup that is as stacked as the Red Sox, he could even flourish.