Hot Stove Digest: Could the Red Sox consider reacquiring Clay Buchholz?
Welcome to The Stew’s Hot Stove Digest, our daily rundown of MLB news, rumors and gossip for Hot Stove season. Here you’ll find a quick recap of all the day’s action and other fun stuff from around the internet that we think is worth your time.
WEIRD SPECULATION OF THE DAY: The Hot Stove season can get weird from time to time, and there might be reason to believe something weird could happen soon.
As ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote on Saturday, the Boston Red Sox will likely need to add another starting pitcher this winter. “It seems inevitable,” he writes, seeing as Eduardo Rodriguez recently tweaked his knee and the team has two other injury question marks in Steven Wright and Drew Pomeranz. A name that’s brought up is Clay Buchholz, whom the Red Sox traded to Philadelphia two weeks ago to shed his salary. Olney never says the Red Sox are targeting Buchholz specifically, or that they’re definitely going to add a pitcher, but that a pitcher like Buchholz makes sense.
If nothing else, it gives us reason to ponder whether or not something like that could happen, and how strange it would be to reacquire a pitcher before he even suits up in his new uniform. Let’s just file that one away for now. [ESPN Insider – subscription required]
ONE JOB: The Red Sox are pulling the plug on Blake Swihart playing in the outfield. He will strictly be a catcher in 2017. [WEEI]
JAYS LOOKING ELSEWHERE?: Earlier this week we heard the Blue Jays and Jose Bautista were engaged in “serious” discussions regarding a reunion. Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star disputed that claim Saturday, reporting there have been no substantial talks since Bautista rejected the club’s $17.2 million qualifying offer in November. [Toronto Star]
CASH CONSIDERATIONS: The Indians may not have the money to re-sign Rajai Davis after signing free agent Edwin Encarnacion. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
VETERAN HELP: Pedro Alvarez and Jason Hammel are two veterans that could make sense for the Kansas City Royals. [Boston Globe]
MAKE ROOM FOR NOVA: The Pirates have designated outfielder Willy Garcia for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for recent signees Ivan Nova. Garcia had been the No. 15 prospect in the Pittsburgh’s minor league system. [Pirates]
DUE DILIGENCE: The White Sox have reportedly taken calls on Todd Frazier and Jose Abreu, but have yet to be tempted to make a deal. For what it’s worth, Abreu has drawn more interest, likely because he’d be under team control for three more years. [Boston Globe]
MOMENTS IN TIME: Here’s the Stew crews look back at the best 10 moments from Major League Baseball in 2016. [The Stew]
IN MEMORIAM: A look back at those lost in 2016 who made a profound impact on baseball. [MLB]
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
