Home Run Derby Ramblings

Thank you Ryan Howard -- by winning the annual Home Run Derby, you made TheBostonInsider look like a genius. I'm pretty sure that is the first prediction in the two-plus years I've been running this site that a prediction has been correct... One of the rumors floating through Pittsburgh is that the Red Sox have interest in a deal that would bring Bobby Abreu to Boston and send Trot Nixon to Philadelphia. I have some issues with Nixon -- injuries, lack of home runs -- but he is worth way too much to the Sox than Abreu would be. Abreu has the reputation for being lazy and difficult to motivate, two problems that would not go over well in Boston... The Sox desperately need a fifth starter to slot in behind Schilling, Beckett, Lester, and Wakefield. Matt Clement is most likely not the man. The trade market has a few gems -- possibly Barry Zito and Dontrelle Willis -- but the price tag would be too steep for a team actively looking to get younger with the back end of this decade in mind. So who's the man? Don't forget David Wells. Wells, who has pitched in only two games and is now on the DL for the third time this year, is the most logical choice when he gets fully healthy. If he was too hurt to make a comeback in '06 he would have turned it in and retired by now. Wells has something left to offer and when if he returns by late August, the Sox will be in position to make a run at the World Series...