Talkin' Potential Sox Trades

When Red Sox Nation isn't busy obsessing over actual games, our fanatical allegiance leads us to consider potential trades that quite often are similar to Julio Lugo and Jeff Bailey for Albert Pujols. Hey, it does happen. With the MLB trade deadline looming at the end of July, those troublemakers reporters at the Globe are speculating about potential acquisitions that can help the Sox achieve world domination.

Brace yourselves:

• Bats - The Globe's potential trade targets range from Victor Martinez to Nick Johnson or even Nomar Garciaparra. Their chances of happening depend on various factors such as Mike Lowell's health, Julio Lugo's suckage, and general desperation if they can't beat teams like Seattle and Oakland consistently.

• Roy Halladay - He's allegedly - maybe - available in Toronto. Pitching is the Sox strength so trading for Halladay is counter-intuitive and improbable. But, the NYY surely will be sniffing around him, and a pitcher going from Toronto to New York brings back bad memories. Keeping an actual ace away from the Yankees may be worth it even if the deal involves Clay Buchholz, whom we assume Toronto G.M. J.P. Ricciardi has heard of.

Trade talk is usually reserved for the now and often includes phrases likes "mortgaging the future". Acquiring players for next year or beyond is often an under-the-radar enterprise done through the draft or undrafted free-agent signings. The Red Sox are pursuing such an acquisition in the person of Cuban shortsop Jose Iglesias, who defected in 2008 at age 19. Bostonist assumes he's better than Lugo right now.