Trade Rumors Swirling Around Boston Red Sox: Which Would Be the Best Move?

Here it is, trade season has begun, and here comes all sorts of trade rumors. Despite the Boston Red Sox being a game out of first, and have been in and out of first place all year, there have been some serious talk about transactions involving Boston.

Out of all of the issues that the Sox have, the most popular I hear while listening to local sports radio station WEEI is the Sox pitching. Caller after caller have been discussing the struggles on Lester or Dice-K.

Trust me, those are the least of the Sox worries. Lester has been turning it around of late and Dice-K is just too talented to have a poor year. And oh yeah, Boston has one of the deepest pitching staffs in the Majors with Smoltz rehabbing and Buchholz in the minors dominating batters.

But if you want to talk problems, talk about the Sox short stop position and David Ortiz.

The Sox hitting has been carried by Jason Bay all year with the likes of Ortiz in the dumps, and no real good short stop who could hit the ball or even do a good job fielding. If the Red Sox want to address some issues then it wouldn't be their pitching, it would be getting a big bat to fill for Otiz's struggles and a good fielder for SS.

The names that have been coming up have been some pretty interesting names. Well to start, to kill two birds with one-stone, why not acquire Hanley Ramirez? Nah, never going to happen, keep dreaming guys.

The only reasonable ideas would be Jack Wilson SS PIT, Adrian Gonzalez OF/1B SD, JJ Hardy SS MIL, Omar Vizquel SS TEX, or even possibly the biggest bat of them all, Adam Dunn of the Washington Nationals.

The one player on that list I wouldn't really want the Sox to get would be Vizquel. He's old and I really don't think he's got good range or can keep up with a major league fastball anymore, despite he's batting .345 in ONLY 23 games with the Rangers, I believe those numbers to be definitely scaled a bit with his lack of playing time.

If I were Theo I would definitely looking to acquire the big bat of Adam Dunn (.264 17 HR 44 RBI) in return of either Masterson, Bowden, or Bard and try to acquire Jay Bay's buddy Jack Wilson (.274 and with only five errors last season) with in return for possibly Lowrie and a few prospects.

But you cannot count of the three way deal. Theo has mastered the three way deal and has done it several times. I wouldn't count out a three way deal which would involve Brad Penny, Masterson, Delcarmen, or Lowrie in return for a big bat and a good defensive SS.

With the trade deadline a ways to go, more and more rumors will come into Yawkey Way these up coming weeks until July 31st. If I were Theo, I would definitely look to improve their hitting and defense to ensure their spot as a sure contender for the AL East Crown.