1. The awards season has ended with only one piece of hardware being taken home by a Red Sox player. Adrian Beltre won the Silver Slugger for third base. Beltre finished in ninth place in the AL MVP ballot. Jon Lester finished fourth in the AL Cy Young balloting with Clay Buchholz finishing sixth. Terry Francona finished fourth in the AL Manager of the Year race. So, no one was particularly close, which is not really surprising.
2. Some news has been made about the Red Sox being in the hunt to trade for Justin Upton. This seems highly unlikely as it would cost the Red Sox a ton of young talent.
3. Fabio Castro, who spent the entire season in the Red Sox minor league system, signed with the Mariners as a minor league free agent. His strikeout rate was impressive, but he had a bad ERA and his height (5'7") seems to be a factor against him.
4. As expected, the Red Sox offered arbitration to Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre, and Felipe Lopez, but declined to offer to Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell. Martinez has already agreed to a contract with the Tigers, so the Red Sox will receive a high draft pick, unless of course Detroit signs someone rated higher than Martinez. Beltre is supposedly Boston's priority. There is a chance Lopez will accept and return to the Red Sox, at which point he will probably be traded. Lowell has already retired and I expect at this point that the Red Sox will bring Varitek back yet again.
5. Marco Scutaro is being shopped with the emergence of Jed Lowrie last year.
6. Jonathan Papelbon is also expected to be shopped, though Boston would have to pick up a sizable chunk of his salary to move him.
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