Red Sox: Dave Dombrowski is setting the stage for just one bat

The Boston Red Sox may be adding only one bat of significance. Does this set the stage for a possible return of Mitch Moreland?

If you were talking with a resident of one of the floating islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru and asked what the Red Sox needed the reply would be “A big bat and preferably two.” That is the standard and accepted answer. Not one, but two. Row is certainly better than one.

"“We did have some interest in (Santana), we did express that we weren’t necessarily prepared to go to the dollar amount that was there, but we did have interest in him,” Dombrowski said. “He’s a player we’ve liked. I don’t know if we’re going to sit and wait, it just depends on some different alternatives and information we get on a daily basis.” – Dave Dombrowski"

Carlos Santana is gone, so that is one big bat that has vanished. Jose Abreu will cost what remains of value in a depleted farm system. Giancarlo Stanton? No chance! Never had a snowball’s chance. That narrows it down to the final two contestants – J.D. Martinez and Eric Hosmer. Will the prayers of Red Sox Nation be answered? Are both headed to Boston?

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The Red Sox are patient, but agent Scott Boras moves like a sloth as he knows how to wait, manipulate, and get his client’s top dollar. Boras occasionally fails, and this is one instance where he will not. No one knowing what Boston needs could fail.

The latest missive is the Red Sox are potentially facing the addition of just one bat. When Santana decided the Liberty Bell offered more than Boston Common the eventual response from Dave Dombrowski was: “weren’t necessarily prepared to go to the dollar amount that was there.” The party line is now: “focused on getting one person.”

I care not to explore the consequences of Martinez signing elsewhere. The thought of 87 wins leaves my morning coffee roll stuck in my gullet. But what about door number two? What about that other bat? Well, the way things are looking I have an eerie feeling our left-handed relief specialist Mitch Moreland will be returning to Boston.

Moreland has been quiet on the rumor mill. Moreland also has expressed a desire to return to Boston and that is starting to look like the inevitability of that death and taxes thing. So, goodbye to the extra-large helping of payroll to grab Hosmer or payroll and prospects for Abreu. Both would be upgraded – maybe even significant upgrades over Moreland.