The official word is that he's gone until the All-Star break but this is a major development that goes much deeper than Jose. John Farrell came out and said he had to ice down both shins after he played, at least with the Red Sox. Jim Leyland the former Tigers manager could not be reached for comment as he's probably off in the Cayman Islands enjoying his retirement.
Back to Jose now, its a shame he's being cut down by injury but now look at what happened. A lot of people were angry when the Sox traded Jose (me included) last summer but it looks like a rape now. They got Jake Peavy for him who solidified the rotation down the stretch until Clay Buchholz came back and even ate a few innings for the Sox in the post-season. Meanwhile the usually slick fielding Iglesias made the key error which led to Shane Victorino's grand slam in Game 6 of the ALCS that effectively won the pennant for Boston. Now, it goes even deeper than that. The Tigers need a short-stop and who better than Stephen "PU" Drew who refused to sign his offer sheet which means if the Tigers sign him, they forfeit their first round pick to to the Red Sox. Since the Red Sox didn't sign any big name free agents, they would own two first round picks in the draft. While that's not as nearly important as the NBA or NFL draft, it does mean some extra talent will be appearing for the Lowell Spinners and Gulf Coast Red Sox this season, so you fans in those respective areas may want to check them out.
Bottom line is that the Sox traded Iglesias because they had Xander Bogaerts ready (who actually did contribute to the World Series effort) to get Peavy (who also contributed) and now with Iglesias gone they could possibly get a future contributor for the departed Drew. Sox GM Ben Cherrington has to be salivating over that.
In other news, the Sox made 3 more cuts by sending pitcher Allen Webster and catcher Christian Vazquez to the Pawtucket Red Sox camp and short-stop Deven Marrero to the Portland Sea Dogs camp. Webster still needs some work but he's made a huge improvement over last year, Vazquez is the heir apparent to the catching position once David Ross departs and Marrero is ready defensively but has to learn how to hit. Unfortunately for him, Xander Bogaerts is in his way and one of them may have to move to third to get them both in the lineup. If that's the case, Will Middlebrooks must go....or move to first or DH in which case David Ortiz or Mike Napoli have to go......wow, that's a mouthful. In any case, those 3 are gone and the final 25 man roster is beginning to take shape. We'll see where they go from here.
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