Winter Meetings Recap and Draft Buzz

It was a relatively quiet Winter Meetings for the Rochester Red Sox in 2011 compared to other teams. Only 3 deals were made but the Red Sox come out of the meetings very happy with their roster going into the draft. The additions of Dan Haren 3/12 and Josh Beckett 2/11 to the rotation gives the Redsox 3 power arms (along with Brett Anderson) to bolster the Sox staff. Utility man Everth Cabrera 2/11 also joined the roster in a deal that brought a second 1st round pick to the Red Sox. Cabrera a middle infielder who has SB value if an injury occurs in San Diego or he gets dealt. "We had a good group of offensive players going into the Winter Meetings. The key for us was too add a couple starters to upgrade the pitching rotation. We like power arms that can miss bats and we feel we added that this offseason." said Red Sox GM Chase.

Now with the winter meetings in the past, the next priority is the 2011 eMLB draft. Last year the Red Sox dealt their 1st and 2nd round picks in the winter meetings for Morneau and Uggla. Both are no longer on the teams roster. "We felt getting proven players via trade was a priority last year. It may have cost us a little but I dont think it hurt us too bad. Plus we did get the steal of the draft with Carlos Gonzalez in round 3." With 2 picks in the first round there is a lot of speculation in what direction the team will go. The draft is loaded with SP but GM Richard Chase is not a guy who likes to draft pitching in the first round. With 2 picks will that change his mind? "We dont plan on taking a SP in the first round, especially with the guys we added via trade. We would like to get a 3yr bat and a top 2yr bat with our first 2 picks. With how deep this draft is in SP we feel that round 3 will be the spot to grab another SP or RP." said Chase.

Mock drafts across the eMLB have the Red Sox looking at guys like Clay Buchholz, CC Sabathia, Derek Jeter, Kendry Morales and Heath Bell. GM Richard Chase refused to comment on any names the team would be interested in drafting at 1.10 and 1.11. Some sources have stated that the speculation across the league is laughable for the most part. One annonymous source said "Out of all the mock drafts I have seen only 1 guy is really a consideration for the Red Sox."

With the draft unofficially starting on Monday it will be very interesting to see how things unfold. With 9 picks before the Red Sox pick back to back a lot can change on the draft board. No matter what happens in picks 1-9 the Red Sox must hit on their 2 first rounders. The team does not have a 2nd, 4th or 5th rounder due to trades in the winter meetings.