Red Sox Out on Beltran, Waiting for Cespedes?

The Red Sox are no longer in the running to sign free-agent outfielder, Carlos Beltran, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe via Twitter.

Beltran, 34, is still being shown a lot of interest by the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals and is expected to make his decision as early as this weekend, reports Ken Rosenthal of ESPN.

With the Red Sox now out of the Beltran sweepstakes, could they be waiting for Cuban defector Yoennis Cespedes to hit the free agent market?

The latest on Cespedes is that he’s going to be a registered citizen of the Dominican Republic in a few days.  Once that finally goes through and MLB clears their papers with the DR, the bidding for Cespedes will begin.

Boston is said to be interested in Cespedes, but so too are the Miami Marlins and Yankees, among many others.  The contract price to sign Cespedes could very well exceed $50 million so it will remain to be seen whether or not the Sox want to pay that kind of money.

Cespedes has been described as a five-tool player, stating he excels in every aspect of the game, both offensively and defensively.  Alex Rodriguez is said to have been a five-tool player and while we Red Sox fans hate to admit, A-Rod does, or at least did have some great talent.

Beltran is 34 while Cespedes is 26, or so says his birth certificate.  Paying an elderly Beltran for multi-years would be risky, especially considering Josh Reddick and Ryan Kalish could platoon right field and round out the lineup card.  This is still a very dangerous offense, with or without Beltran or Cespedes.

Things are slowly starting to take shape with the Red Sox, although it is at a snale’s pace.  Cherington says he’s going to be patient, well this another example of that.  It very well could be showing patience while waiting for Cespedes.

If nothing else, Cherington has left everyone guessing at what his next move will be.  And we thought Theo was sneaky.

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