Yahoo’s Tim Brown has a source indicating that Billy Beane has called the Red Sox to see if they’d be interested in oft-injured flamethrower Rich Harden. Brown also knew some teams Beane didn’t call about Harden: the D’Backs, Dodgers, and Devil Rays. He speculates that buzzing Boston could be an attempt to lure the Yankees.
Boston’s strength is it’s starting pitching, so it seems an odd area to upgrade. Most likely this was just Billy and Theo BSing and it somehow turned into a trade rumor. But can you imagine the Red Sox rotation on paper?
Matsuzaka
Beckett
Schilling
Harden
Wakefield
Then in ’08, the Red Sox could let Schilling walk and plug Lester in, without losing much. Of course, a healthy Harden is like some sort of mirage. Seeing Harden on a Major League mound is as rare as seeing me at the office past 4:52. (What? I have a 5:09 train I like to catch).
We could throw around a bunch of Red Sox prospect names in speculation, but why? Nothing’s getting done until Harden strings together five healthy starts.
Brown says Oakland could go for a full-blown fire sale if they’re out of contention in July. Future free agents Mike Piazza, Milton Bradley, Jason Kendall, and Joe Kennedy would be prime tradin’ chips.
