MakMan44 said:
Pretty much.
The Astro's are doing the same thing.
EDIT:
It's the smart play, but I don't expect both of them to be actually moved by Thursday.
Yep...
Brohamer of the Gods said:
Or just that either could be traded, not necessarily both.
Pretty much this.
snowmanny said:
Wouldn't Rosenthal have written "either" instead of "BOTH" if he didn't mean both?
No. Both are absolutely available. Any deal in the works will almost assuredly go down to the wire, and the Sox can opt for the better package and keep the one they don't trade. Chances are they will use the option of trading Lackey as leverage in Lester negotiations. Which ever pitcher they don't trade, the put the full court press on for an extension. I'm guessing one of the two is traded, and it's more than likely going to be Lester. If things fall apart at 3:30 and they have a good offer for Lackey on the table, they shift and pull that trigger instead.
Edit: Rosenthal apparently meant they would trade both. I'd be surprised, and disappointed if they do. There is almost no way I can envision this team being competitive starting the year with a rotation of Buchholz, Workman, RDLR and a combination of Ranaudo, Barnes, Owens, and Johnson. That leaves no room for using young pitchers for improvements elsewhere. Either they'll have to go market rate for Lester and then for someone in the next tier down like Shields, Floyd, Masterson or Santana, or they're just not going to have the pitching to compete.
And if they're going to need to use some of that young pitching to upgrade elsewhere, they'll need to get some free agents signed early, which isn't likely in the case of a pitcher like Lester or Scherzer. Hopefully I'll look back at this next spring and laugh at how badly I was over reacting, but trading both Lester and Lackey doesn't seem like the approach of a team expecting to get back to the playoffs in 2015.