Behind Peavy, the best three choices are A.J. Burnett, Jon Garland, and Derek Lowe. Burnett does not fit with any sort of philosophy that the Red Sox have ever lived by when it comes to free agency and I have serious doubts that Theo Epstein would sign someone so maddeningly inconsistent.
Garland will be a cheap alternative, but his ERA was 4.90, and his WHIP was over 1.50, both of which should scare the Red Sox because bringing him to the "friendly" confines of Fenway Park would not do him very much good.
Lowe is exciting and concerning at the very same time. He had a fantastic year for Los Angeles this year with his ERA at 3.24 and his WHIP at 1.13, and he obviously has a rich history in Boston. He also said that Boston would be his preferred destination if he had his way.
At the same time, Lowe turns 36 in June and he is represented by Scott Boras which means that he could be looking for a long-term deal, a deal that the Red Sox would be reluctant to give to a 36-year-old pitcher.
However, signing Lowe is the best option. If they were able to bring Lowe into the fold their rotation for 2009 would look like this;
Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield.
The Red Sox have even more flexibility if Clay Buchholz returns to form and if Michael Bowden turns out to be all that he is promised to be.
Seven legitimate starting pitchers including four current or former all-stars are something that most teams can not boast that they have in their arsenal. By default the Red Sox would be able to turn the two odd men out of the rotation into the bullpen, allowing them more flexibility there as well.
5. Decide what to do with the excess of players in the outfield
The Red Sox have five outfielders on their roster heading into the off-season and they can't keep them all, it will be tough enough trying to find playing time for the remainder of the group to stay happy.
The outfield is made up of Jason Bay, J.D. Drew, Coco Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Mark Kotsay. It's safe to say that Bay and Drew will be safe from any sort of playing time debate or trade talk, but the other three will be subject to a lot of rumors during the off-season and the spring.
Mark Kotsay is a free agent and seems like the odd man out in the battle between the three, but Kotsay also has value because of his ability to play first base.
Sean Casey is also a free agent, and if the Red Sox can't land Teixeira, that makes Kotsay the de facto backup first baseman. It all depends on how much money Kotsay is looking for and how much Casey is looking for, but Kotsay might defy the odds and stay in Boston.
The real battle in the outfield is between Crisp and Ellsbury. They co-existed this year with Terry Francona riding the hot bat as defensively they were a wash. Crisp has just one year left on his contract and it seems pretty obvious that he will be trade bait in any sort of offer to get Peavy.
The possibility remains that the team will keep Crisp and Ellsbury and play them together again in the first half of the season and then see if they can't trade Crisp and his expiring contract for bullpen help which every team unfailingly needs at the deadline.
Luckily for the outfielders in Boston, unless prospect Josh Reddick has a monster spring, there won't be any upstarts challenging for their positions.
Reddick is the highest rated outfield prospect in the organization according to Soxprospects.com, and he is followed by Ryan Westmoreland, but both players have a long way to go before they are big league ready.
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