MLB Trade Rumors: Red Sox Wise to Avoid Weak Market After Ellsbury's Injury

Already without Carl Crawford, the Boston Red Sox suffered another significant blow to their outfield when Jacoby Ellsbury went down with a shoulder injury. Give credit to the Red Sox, though, for not overreacting and paying a premium price in a weak trade market to fill the void.

The initial reaction when a team loses its two most important outfielders would be to scour potential trade options. That's not the case for the Red Sox, however. They are planning to stand pat, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

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Sox general manager Ben Cherington said that while the Sox always do their due diligence and have their radar up, he doesn't expect a team will trade a good center fielder this early in the season.

Cherington feels he's protected well with the outfielders on his roster.

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Cody Ross has taken over in center field. Darnell McDonald and the underrated Ryan Sweeney fill the other two spots with Jason Repko serving as the extra outfielder. It's not a trio that will strike fear into opponents, but they are good enough to hold down the fort if the team's sluggers are producing.

The biggest problem with attempting to make a trade now is timing. Since the season just started a couple weeks ago, every team still has goals they are trying to reach and nobody has lost enough games to give up quite yet.

Teams will become more willing to listen to offers as the season progresses and it becomes more obvious who falls into the pretender category. As for now, general managers are still holding all of their assets close to the chest.

Other teams also would have known Cherington was desperate if he immediately began to make calls to find another outfielder. When front office counterparts sense blood in the water, they drive the asking price even higher.

It all comes down to patience. Crawford's current timetable has him on track for early May, which is only a couple weeks away. If the Red Sox can survive until then, and they should have no problem doing so, things will start looking up again.

He can't possibly be any worse than last season. With lower expectations, there's actually a good chance he finally lives up to the hype and becomes a key part of the team's offense. Once Ellsbury heals, the outfield will be in great shape.

When you consider the alternative of likely having to trade a solid prospect for a replacement, the wait-and-see approach definitely wins out. Forced trades rarely turn into good moves because the pressure to make a deal overrides basic logic.

That's why the Red Sox are making the right decision to avoid a tenuous trade market, at least until things begin to open up in late May or early June.