Red Sox rumors: Adam LaRoche, Mike Napoli, Jake Peavy

Following their midseason trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers which dumped the contracts of several players, including Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, the Boston Red Sox will have money to spend this offseason. What’s to be determined is if the team can spend their newly-found salary cap space wisely, according to John Tomase of the Boston Herald:

That means the Red Sox must practice patience this winter, even with more than $100 million to spend, in order to avoid the pitfalls that ended up hamstringing them last winter.

The Red Sox enter the offseason with only $38.8 million committed to five players in 2013. Tomase says one of the primary targets of the Red Sox this winter will be a first baseman to help fill the void left by the departure of Gonzalez.

Tomase believes the Red Sox could target Adam LaRoche or Mike Napoli, but doesn’t think the team should commit to either player long-term.

Another area of need for Boston will be starting pitching. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe believes right-hander Jake Peavy represents a potential target for the Red Sox.