Haren Shuts Down Sox...Youk Hurt

Dan Haren won a pitchers duel against Josh Beckett at Fenway as the Sox offense managed just 4 hits. Beckett had a shutout going in the 7th before he gave up 2 runs. One of the runs may not have scored but Moss (who was in for the injured Youk) bobbled the ball and had no play at the plate. The Sox tried to rally in the bottom of the inning and had bases loaded with one out. J.D. hit a sac-fly to put the Sox on the board. Manny came to the plate with runners on first and second and two outs. He hit a hard liner but it was right at the third baseman for the third out. Lyon came in for the 9th and the Sox went in order. Beckett and Aardsma both pitched very well for Boston but they did not have any run support.

Youk was hurt in the game during a warm-up between innings. He tried to catch a bouncing throw that came up on him and hit him below his eye. He was replaced my Moss at first because Casey was out serving the suspension from the Rays incident. No word on how much time Youk will miss.

Sox Lose 2-1 BOX SCORE

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Haren and Santana In The Same Deal?

If the rumor is true that the Mets, Twins, and A's are involved in negotiations for a mega deal that would explain why its been so quiet in Nashville on the Santana and Haren front. This deal would be good for Boston: it would take Santana out of the American League and keep Haren away from the Yankees. Boston would keep their young players and win the East again. Short of Santana coming to the Sox for cheap this is the best case senario.

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Other Happenings In Nashville

As we wait for more info on the Twins/Red Sox negotiations here is some other news coming from the Winter Meetings:

The Diamondbacks and A's did not get far in the negotiations for Haren so the Yankees and Sox still could come calling.

Several sources have reported the Rangers spoke with the Twins about Santana but I would not take it very seriously, they have tried to play with the big dogs before (A-Rod) and we all know how that turned out.

The Tigers became a big market team today with the addition of Cabrera and Willis; their payroll could jump to $110 million. Tito's reaction to the trade:"Wow, there's a lot of American League pitchers (and teams) that just got real nervous. And we're one of them. That's quite a lineup."

Theo and the group will resume trade talks with Twins after midnight. Get out your Ipod for some Eric Clapton.

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Santana or Haren?

With all of the talk about the sweepstakes for Johan Santana it is easy to overlook another All-Star pitcher that might get traded. Billy Beane may be looking to rebuild the Oakland A's with some young players so Dan Haren could be traded. The A's and Twins would require a young pitcher in return; either Buchholz or Lester and an additional player. Both teams are in need of a centerfielder so Coco could be part of either deal. When you compare the two pitchers their numbers are close but Santana gets the edge if you go by Baseball-Reference.com's 162 game average.

Haren 13-11 3.82 ERA 164 K's

Santana 14-7 3.22 ERA 220 K's

If the Red Sox can get either one of them by trading Lester and Coco they should make the deal but it is unlikely it will be that cheap।

Update: Twins want Ellsbury

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