Red Sox Trade Rumors: Chicago Cubs Interested in Ryan Sweeney

The trade deadline is less than three weeks away and while the Red Sox currently have more questions than answers, we should have a better idea if the Red Sox will be buyers or sellers given their schedule over the next twenty days. But with the expected return of center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, current starter Ryan Sweeney is rumored to be on the shopping block with the Chicago Cubs of all teams said to have an interest.

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports that the Cubs and Red Sox could be discussing a deal involving Sweeney, according to one baseball insider.  The Cubs have made it public knowledge that both starting pitchers, Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster are available for the right price with Garza fetching a king’s ransom in prospects in return.  Any deal that has Sweeney in it will surely need to be sweetened with a Jose Iglesias type player to land either Garza or Dempster.

On the season Sweeney has a slash line of .283/.319/.400/.719 with 14 RBI and 17 doubles.  His lack of power has been made up by his ability to rip the ball down the lines and stretch a base hit into a double, creating runs for the Red Sox.  Sweeney has been a nice acquisition as part of the Josh Reddick/Andrew Bailey deal, albeit he’s a far cry from what Reddick is doing in Oakland this season.

Sweeney has battled injuries this season, just like every other Red Sox outfielder, resulting in only 192 plate appearances in 54 games.