Either this is really ironic or ESPN The Mag reporter Buster Olney really knows what he’s talking about. Check this out from his visit to the Dale and Holley Show on WEEI.com on Thursday morning.
Buster, I’m about to give you a new job here, get ready for this. I know I haven’t prepped you on this, but you are no longer ESPN baseball analyst, you are now the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. What are you going to do in the offseason, general manager Olney, to get the Red Sox back to the World Series?
I’m calling the Florida Marlins about Jeremy Hermida, who’s going to be one of these guys who might be non-tendered. I’m calling and trying to pluck the best of those guys, and I guarantee you Theo [Epstein]’s been doing that, in talking with general managers around the game. They say this is a really heavy part of the conversation right now. I don’t think they’re in a position at this moment to make a dynamic huge move. Idiots like me might say go get Prince Fielder, go sign John Lackey. I think they’re going to be laying back a little bit. Next year’s going to be somewhat of a transition year as they work through the last years of the contracts for Ortiz and Mike Lowell, and I don’t think they’re in a position really to do really what they’re going to need to do to upgrade their offense. I think next year’s going to be another sort of plug-and-fill year, and they’re going to have to do more incremental-type stuff like adding a promising young player like Jeremy Hermida.
So now guess what Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein did on Thursday afternoon.
That’s right, he traded for OF Jeremy Hermida from the Florida Marlins. In return, the Red Sox sent LHP Hunter Jones and LHP Jose Alvarez to Miami.
Hermida, just 25 years old, hit .259 with 13 home runs, 47 RBIs and five stolen bases in 2009. He’s a career .265 hitter and has had 57 home runs and 210 RBIs in four plus seasons with the Marlins.
It will be a little different now for Hermida coming to Boston, probably as the fourth outfielder. The Marlins averaged 18,770 fans while the Red Sox got 37,811 a game plus the Red Sox played in front of an average of 33,869 fans on the road.
