Red Sox Pursuing Juan Uribe
According to CBS Sports' Danny Knobler, the Red Sox are looking to acquire shortstop Juan Uribe in a trade with the Chicago White Sox.
Uribe, whose value to the Red Sox comes in his superior defensive abilities (at least compared to Cora, Lowry and Lugo), is hitting just .229 with 3 homers and 18 RBI in 153 at bats this season. However, speculation surrounding Uribe has his defense falling off almost as precipitously as his offense has over the past few years. Cora, who makes $2.5 million less than Uribe's $4.5 million salary, is batting .279 with no homers and 5 RBI in 61 at bats. As you all know, if Uribe is a solid defender, Cora is pretty far below average. Much of the talk regarding this deal seems to imply that one of the key factors in wanting to trade Cora to the other Sox is the fact that he'd be united with his older brother, Joey, who serves as Chicago's bench coach (aka Ozzie's managerial replacement when he gets tossed about once per week).
Apparently the Sox aren't counting on Lugo coming back anytime soon. Original estimates had him out 4-6 weeks, but with this recent news, I'd be surprised if he came back much before the playoffs (if he comes back at all). MLB Trade Rumors links to Ken Rosenthal, who believes the White Sox want Cora to play second so they can shift Alexi Ramirez over to short and ship the oft-disgruntled Orlando Cabrera to the Dodgers for Derek Lowe. Pretty intriguing scenario for the White Sox, who lead the AL Central by just 2.5 games. If the Cora-for-Uribe deal happens, the teams would split the remaining differences in salary.
Ultimately, it seems to be a pretty weird trade for Boston; there doesn't really seem to be any clear-cut benefit or detriment by swapping backup shortstops here. Cora, Uribe... what's it really matter? I guess it's nice that the Sox upgrade a bit defensively, but I'd still rather give Lowry a shot at being more of a full-timer as opposed to going shopping for another defensive specialist.
UPDATE, 8:23 PM: The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo says the deal is dead. The Sox backed away from a potential swap.
Uribe, whose value to the Red Sox comes in his superior defensive abilities (at least compared to Cora, Lowry and Lugo), is hitting just .229 with 3 homers and 18 RBI in 153 at bats this season. However, speculation surrounding Uribe has his defense falling off almost as precipitously as his offense has over the past few years. Cora, who makes $2.5 million less than Uribe's $4.5 million salary, is batting .279 with no homers and 5 RBI in 61 at bats. As you all know, if Uribe is a solid defender, Cora is pretty far below average. Much of the talk regarding this deal seems to imply that one of the key factors in wanting to trade Cora to the other Sox is the fact that he'd be united with his older brother, Joey, who serves as Chicago's bench coach (aka Ozzie's managerial replacement when he gets tossed about once per week).
Apparently the Sox aren't counting on Lugo coming back anytime soon. Original estimates had him out 4-6 weeks, but with this recent news, I'd be surprised if he came back much before the playoffs (if he comes back at all). MLB Trade Rumors links to Ken Rosenthal, who believes the White Sox want Cora to play second so they can shift Alexi Ramirez over to short and ship the oft-disgruntled Orlando Cabrera to the Dodgers for Derek Lowe. Pretty intriguing scenario for the White Sox, who lead the AL Central by just 2.5 games. If the Cora-for-Uribe deal happens, the teams would split the remaining differences in salary.
Ultimately, it seems to be a pretty weird trade for Boston; there doesn't really seem to be any clear-cut benefit or detriment by swapping backup shortstops here. Cora, Uribe... what's it really matter? I guess it's nice that the Sox upgrade a bit defensively, but I'd still rather give Lowry a shot at being more of a full-timer as opposed to going shopping for another defensive specialist.
UPDATE, 8:23 PM: The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo says the deal is dead. The Sox backed away from a potential swap.
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