As they say, sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make.
And sometimes, the best acquisitions were on your team in the first place.
The Red Sox are out of the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes, with indications the 34-year-old Mets outfielder is heading to San Francisco.
Call that the Reddick effect. With the young outfielder continuing to sizzle, the Sox no longer felt it necessary to pay the kind of ransom the resurgent Beltran would have commanded.
Indeed, as Boston nears Sunday’s trade deadline, their needs seem to be rapidly dwindling. Starting pitching is another area of concern, but if Clay Buchholz can finally shake off his back troubles, it will be as though he was a trade-deadline acquisition himself.
But that all remains tentative, with Buchholz once again due to see a back specialist this weekend, putting off a throwing session until after another exam.
A delay would likely keep him out of the Sox rotation until mid-August, depending on how many rehab starts he requires.
Perhaps that explains why the Sox are scouting Ubaldo Jimenez, and why the Rockies had a scout at Fenway on Tuesday night, according to ESPNBoston.
“I like our team,” manager Terry Francona said. “I’ve been around here long enough to know that [Theo Epstein is] going to be on the phone doing his due diligence, which he’s supposed to. I don’t need to sit up here and say what we need because I think my job is to get the most out of these guys.”
