Red Sox Will Be Busy This Month

Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox should be quite busy this month as they have several targets on their radar.

Kevin Davidoff of Newsday reports that the Red Sox will aggressively pursue Mark Teixeira during the offseason.

Boston also seems set to make a run at a trade with Texas for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Boston would likely have to give up two of their top pitching prospects in a deal for Salty.

Boston also has some Japanese pitchers to look at. The consensus is that Junichi Tazawa will end up with Boston, he was passed over by every team in Japan and is free to sign with anyone he wants.

Theres also Japanese veteran Kenshin Kawakami who is a free agent and has expressed a desire to play for Boston, signing him could add depth to the rotation, especially if Boston has to trade Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz to get Salty.

Kawakami could slide into the 5th spot in the rotation with Michael Bowden sitting at AAA as the top insurance policy incase of injury in the rotation.

If Boston did trade Masterson in a deal for Salty that would give Daniel Bard an opportunity to win a bullpen spot in spring training.

The question would be what to do with Tazawa if he signed. At just 22-years-old there would be no hurry to get him to Boston and he would likely start out at AA Portland, though if Boston was concerned about the early season weather, he could start out at the new A-Advanced team down in Salem, Virginia before moving to Portland in May.