LaRoche in Red

There's about to be a serious rumble between two corner infielders over who gets to wear the number 25. Apparently, there is an imminant deal on the table for Pirate's first baseman Adam LaRoche. As first reported by Dejan Kovacevic at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the teams are thiiiiiiiiiis close to touching pen to paper, in a trade that would send Argenis Diaz from Double A Portland and righty pitcher Hunter Strickland from Single A Greenville.

With the Red Sox looking more-and-more vulnerable everyday, it's not a bad trade all around. Diaz is not hitting for the power that he was projected to (he doesn't have a single home-run this year), and Strickland's K's per nine are way down from 7.5 last year to 5.5 this year. While the reports coming out of Greenville are that his command has improved tremendously as of late, he's certainly not going to be up any time soon - and the Red Sox need an impact player now.

Unfortunately, LaRoche may not make the exact impact that the Red Sox desperately need. While he can provide some serious padding on the corners (creating a shift opportunity for Kevin Youkilis at third if Old Man Lowell's hip starts acting up), the front office probably should have pursued a more viable option in the middle infield. While Nick Green and Jed Lowrie may be a VORP enthusiasts' wet dream, their value beyond sabermetrics numbers is questionable at best.

In any case, this trade certainly isn't going to hurt the Red Sox chances this season. Beyond that, the risk of this being another Josh Beckett for Hanley Ramirez trade (which any Red Sox fan with any shred of common sense will tell you they would do over again in a heartbeat) isn't there; at lesat to the degree that it was in the famed "fortune-for-future" trade between the two.

As this blog post has been written, Adam LaRoche has been pulled from today's Pirates line-up. This one's in the bag folks. Welcome to Red Sox Nation.

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