Red Sox outfield logjam is nothing new

The Red Sox were faced with a pleasant dilemma in 2005-06 seasons regarding an abundance of promising talent. Too much similar talent at one position and thus a logjam. Sound familiar? The Red Sox had three players that were projected to be major league talents who all played the outfield and hit from the left side. All three fulfilled that promise with varying degrees of success.

In 2003 the Red Sox selected David Murphy in the first round. In 2006 Murphy made a brief appearance for Boston and did so again in 2007 before being traded to Texas for Eric Gagne. Murphy has had a respectable MLB career with a slash line of .273/.335/.433 and currently is with his former Boston manager, Terry Francona, in Cleveland.

Brandon Moss was selected in the eighth round in 2002. Moss made brief appearances with Boston in 2007-08 before being traded to Pittsburgh in a three team deal that saw Manny Ramirez sent to the Dodgers and Jason Bay shuffle in to play left field. Moss eventually blossomed in Oakland and made the 2014 AL All Star Team. Moss has also been reunited with his former manager in Cleveland.

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The last of the three talented players was Jacoby Ellsbury, who was selected in the first round in 2005. Ellsbury was designated as the keeper by the talent evaluators and they were spot on. Ellsbury became a key component with two championship teams and parlayed his talent into a spectacular free agent contract with the New York Yankees.

The Red Sox management had to make choices back then just as they do today. In that time frame a surplus existed of three promising outfielders who hit left-handed. The logjam was eliminated via trades that are very debatable regarding returns. How will the current log jam be approached?

The situation that exists today is different. Shane Victorino is in his last contract year as is Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes has been mentioned daily in trade rumors so one would suspect his Boston days are numbered. Victornio has an injury issue that has to be evaluated before he could be moved. Other options and players such as Daniel Nava, Allen Craig and Mookie Betts can also be in various scenarios, but the logjam will be broken.