Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
In an effort to add depth and experience to a struggling back end of the rotation, the Red Sox traded for Cleveland starter Paul Byrd this afternoon. In return, the Indians will acquire either a player to be named later or cash.
The 37-year old righthander is 7-10 this year, with a 4.53 ERA. Byrd, who has won all four of his starts after the all-star game, was 15-8 with a 4.59 ERA for the Tribe last year. His best season came in 2002, when he posted a 17-11 mark (3.90 ERA) with Kansas City.
While this is a necessary move because of Clay Buchholz' failure to develop as quickly as hoped, it underscores the Sox desperation. It almost certainly means Buchholz is heading back to the minors, with Byrd and Charlie Zink (Tim Wakefield's replacement) filling the rotation vacancies. Byrd is a decent option, but you're not going to win many post-season games with him as a starter.
Of course, the first priority is to get to the playoffs in the first place, and Buchholz was hurting those chances. Byrd can't be any worse right now, and for the rest of this season anyway, is an improvement.
That's the view from here...how do you see things? Good move? Should Theo Epstein have acted sooner to shore up the rotation and perhaps ended up with a better option than Byrd?
Comments (4)
Little to no risk (not going to give up much of a prospect or much $$$ for Byrd) with a chance at a decent return. Byrd has been great since the All Star break and sure looked good vs the Sox in the ALCS so I have no problem with the move. He certainly can give you decent innings to finish out the season and keep you in games- something that Buchholz is just not doing right now.
Posted by dboisver | August 13, 2008 12:41 AM
Posted on August 13, 2008 00:41
Forgot to mention he's also an admitted HGH user. But I'm sure he'll get cheered anyway....as long as he pitches well.
Posted by Teddy P. | August 13, 2008 6:38 AM
Posted on August 13, 2008 06:38
I like the trade as well...Nothing to lose and everything to gain and it seems pretty clear the sox could use some pitching help these days after zink got lit up last night. Teddy, as an aside none of the bios of the people on your blog come up when you click on them. You may want to check that out. Keep up the good work and i cannot wait for a Lowell Spinners playoff run for the first time ever!!!
Posted by spinner fan | August 13, 2008 9:50 AM
Posted on August 13, 2008 09:50
As soon as they find something nice to say about us, they promise to update the bios....LOL
They're working on them!
Posted by Teddy P. | August 13, 2008 3:04 PM
Posted on August 13, 2008 15:04