David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE
With new catcher David Ross in Boston at least through 2014, the Red Sox may look to deal Salty or Lavarnway.
The Boston Red Sox could trade one of their two incumbent catchers -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Ryan Lavarnway -- now that they have signed veteran backstop David Ross to a two-year deal, reports Tim Britton of the Providence Journal:
Ross will play more than a regular backup but not as much as a starter.
That leaves the door open for Boston to move one of the catchers in hand...
The markets for each player would differ, since Saltalamacchia would fit more with a win-now approach while Lavarnway is more of a long-term solution behind the plate.
Britton speculates that the Chicago White Sox would make the most sense as a landing spot for the 27-year-old Saltalamacchia, who has spent the past three seasons in Boston. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Red Sox have been shopping the switch-hitting catcher "for weeks". Salty batted .222/.288/.454 with twenty-five home runs in one hundred twenty-one games this past season.
The Mets could be the top candidate to go after Lavarnway, per Britton, and the Sox could bring back some much-needed starting pitching in a trade with New York. Considered Boston's "catcher of the future", the 25-year-old Lavarnway has had brief stints with the club over the past two seasons, hitting just .172/.230/.286 with four home runs in sixty-three games. The right-handed hitting backstop has performed much better at Triple-A, hitting .295/.382/.511 with twenty-six home runs in one hundred forty-four games.


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