Red Sox Trade Rumors: All the Hottest Chatter Heading into the Deadline

As the hours continue to dwindle before the July 31 trade deadline, the biggest question regarding the Boston Red Sox concerns their focus.

The Red Sox will go into the deadline right at .500, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re out of the playoff picture.

Boston is still in the hunt for one of the two wild-card spots, but it definitely won’t be an easy remainder of the season. The Red Sox will have to play nearly perfect baseball the rest of the way to make the postseason.

General manager Ben Cherington needs to decipher whether Boston is in the hunt enough to add another piece or whether it's too far out and maybe should trade a player or two. Cherington said via ESPN:

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"When we look at where we are in the standings, I guess particularly the teams that are right ahead of us in the wild card chase, we don't believe that any of those teams are better than us, or necessarily more talented than us. So in that sense we're not of the mindset to give in on anything. We want to try to win, and if there's ways to improve our chances of winning and catching those teams, we want to do that."

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What will Cherington decide to do with the Red Sox? Let’s take a look to see where they stand on a few issues and players.

Top of the Rotation Staying Put for Now

Jon Lester and Josh Beckett have been wildly inconsistent and sometimes downright awful throughout starts this season, but Boston doesn’t plan on trading either of them.

GM Ben Cherington told ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes that Boston doesn’t intend to deal Lester and ruled out trading Beckett.

“Taking Josh Beckett off this team is not necessarily improving things,” said Cherington. “I think we’re sort of stuck in neutral if we start taking guys out of the rotation that are good major league pitchers.”

Beckett, who’s 5-9 with a 4.57 ERA, told WEEI’s Rob Bradford that he prefers to stay with the Red Sox, but he would also listen if Boston said it wanted to trade him. Bradford also reported that Boston was fielding some calls on Beckett, but the Texas Rangers weren’t interested in him.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports tweets that the Red Sox called the Rangers and the Atlanta Braves to gauge interest in Beckett. He also tweets that although Boston didn't call the Los Angeles Dodgers, they also could be interested.

The Braves called the Red Sox regarding Lester, who’s 5-8 this year with a 5.49 ERA, but were told no, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. 

Boston Out of Josh Johnson Running

While the Red Sox would greatly benefit from adding a top-of-the-rotation pitcher, that won’t be Josh Johnson.

The Red Sox did send one of their top scouts to watch Johnson recently but aren’t engaged in the market, tweets MLB.com’s Peter Gammons.

One of the issues with acquiring Johnson is that the Miami Marlins are looking for a lot in return, writes CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. The Red Sox have a lot of good talent throughout their system but probably won’t part with any major prospects.

Johnson is 6-7 this season with a 4.14 ERA in 119.2 innings. He would’ve been a good starter to pursue, but it seems that the Red Sox will seek other names instead.

What's New with Carl Crawford?

The Red Sox explored a deal that would’ve sent Carl Crawford to the Miami Marlins earlier in the month, writes Joel Sherman of The New York Post, but the deal died.

Sherman has heard that Boston wants Crawford gone in the worst way.

Although many fans may not be happy with the current contract status of Crawford and how he’s performed through the first year-and-a-half, there was never any teeth to those talks, tweets WEEI’s Rob Bradford.

Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe tweets that Miami has been the only team to inquire on Crawford.

Crawford missed most of the season after recovering from elbow surgery and will likely need Tommy John surgery at some point. The latest news is that Crawford can’t play more than four games in row, according to The Boston Herald’s Scott Lauber.

In my opinion, no team will want to take on that kind of contract with those kinds of injury issues.

Red Sox Won't Part with Cody Ross

Cody Ross has been one of the big additions for the Red Sox this season, and because they’re still undecided about their future, they plan on keep him around.

The Texas Rangers have shown interest in Ross, but the Red Sox won’t trade him, according to CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler. As Rob Bradford of WEEI writes, there is significant interest in Ross, and he would be a very valuable commodity.

Ross, who signed a one-year deal this past offseason, told Bradford that he would like to re-sign with the Red Sox after the conclusion of this season.

Ross is hitting .260/.332/.528 with 16 home runs this year and has regularly hit in the middle of the Boston lineup.

Jason Vargas Coming to Fenway?

Jason Vargas isn’t the most notable pitcher on the market, but Boston is interested in him, tweets Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe.

The Seattle Mariners will looks to obtain offense in exchange for Vargas, who is definitely on the market, according to Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi.

Vargas is 11-7 with a 3.76 ERA in 22 starts this season for a struggling Mariners team looking to sell some of its assets.

Vargas is not much of a strikeout pitcher and does have trouble keeping the ball in the park. He’s signed through the 2013 season.

Rafael Betancourt the Likely Bullpen Addition?

The Red Sox bullpen has been pretty good this season, but GM Ben Cherington will still look to make it even better.

Boston was interested in Colorado Rockies reliever Rafael Betancourt earlier in July, according to The Denver Post’s Troy Renck.

Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets that Boston is one of the teams that has inquired about Betancourt, who is signed through next season and has a mutual option for 2014.

Betancourt is 1-3 this season with a 2.92 ERA over 38 appearances (37 innings). He has 17 saves for the Rockies but would most likely work the seventh or eighth innings with the Red Sox. 

Surplus for Sale

The Red Sox need to find another starting pitcher and are willing to part with bullpen arms as well as some backup infielders in order to do so, according to Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi.

There has been interest in Ryan Kalish, Ryan Sweeney and the aforementioned Cody Ross, writes ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes.

Earlier in the month, Mike Silverman of The Boston Herald wrote that Daniel Nava could also be dealt. Silverman mentions that Kalish and Scott Podsednik are both in Triple-A at the moment.

Matt Albers, Andrew Miller and Vicente Padilla could be dealt should the Red Sox fall out of contention, according to The Providence Journal's Brian MacPherson.

Kelly Shoppach on the Move?

The Red Sox have an interesting decision to make regarding their catching situation.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has played very well this season, but should Boston exit the playoff race, that could change.

Boston has prospect Ryan Lavarnway in Triple-A Pawtucket, who’s waiting for his shot at the big leagues. He looks to be the future at catcher, so promoting him could happen sooner or later.

That decision would likely mean that Kelly Shoppach would be traded.

The New York Mets showed interest in Shoppach, writes Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, but they couldn’t work out a deal at the time.

As Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe tweets, the Texas Rangers could be interested in Shoppach as well.