And let the off-season craziness begin!  In an unexpected but not overly surprising move on Thursday, the Boston Red Sox acquired outfielder Jeremy Hermida from the Florida Marlins.  In return the Boston sent pitchers Hunter Jones and Jose Alverez to Florida.  In an interview following the acquisition Theo Epstein referred to it as a “chance to get a guy with unfulfilled potential for a reasonable cost.”  He is also a player who is under Red Sox control through the end of the 2011 season.  It is no secret that the Red Sox have always shown at least marginal interest in Hermida, who was once ranked by Baseball America as the fourth best prospect in the game.  Maybe an extreme change of scenery will bring out the best in the once highly-touted outfielder.  First, let’s take a look at what the Sox sent to the fish in the deal.

Hunter Jones is 25 and made his major league debut in 2009.  He pitched 12.2 innings for the Red Sox in relief, posting an ERA of 9.24 and allowing three home runs in that brief sampling.  The other player in the deal is 20-year old Jose Alvarez.  Alvarez pitched most of 2009 in single-A Lowell.  He made 14 appearances, including 12 starts.  In 83.0 innings of work, he posted a 1.52 ERA, striking out 63 while only walking 10 batters.  Due to his stellar performance he was promoted to High-A Salem.  He made 12 relief appearances there, going 24.2 innings and posting a 4.74 ERA.  He is currently playing winter ball where, to this point, he has made 8 relief appearances and posted a 4.66 ERA in 9.2 innings of work.  While Jones and Alvarez both have shown periodic flashes of good stuff on the mound and are both young, considering the return in the deal, it seems as though it was a relatively small loss for the organization.

Jeremy Hermida, once highly-touted as a potentially great major-league outfielder, has since disappointed in his career.  Since making his major league debut in 2005, he has posted a .265/.344/.425 line with 57 homers.  He also has a UZR of -26.7, but in his defense he was much better in left and center field than in right.  The question becomes, “How will the Red Sox utilize their new acquistion?”

There exists the remote possibility that Hermida would start in left field in place of a departed Jason Bay, but I don’t believe that the Red Sox vigor for resigning Bay is lessened in any way.  My guess is that Hermida will play off the bench as the fourth or fifth outfielder, depending on the Rocco Baldelli situation.  The Red Sox should continue to pursue the likes of Jason Bay and Matt Holliday to fill the current positional vacancy.

Finally, I’d like to tie this back to my first post which dealt with that specific vacancy.  A few things happened today that effect the possibilities in that regard.  Firstly, Bobby Abreu resigned with the Angels for 2 years, and $19m guaranteed.  Also, Mark Teahen of the Royals was originally reported to have been traded to the Chicago White Sox for Josh Fields and Chris Getz but it was later reported that neither team confirmed the completion of a deal.  I suggested earlier that Abreu would be an interesting two-year signing for the Sox but the possibility is now null and void.  And while I neglected to mention Teahen as a possible replacement for Bay, presumably that deal would make it one less outfielder on the trade market.

Tomorrow I’ll post my opinions on the shortstop situation.  Good Night Sox Nation.