Red Sox Shut Down Middlebrooks, Victorino For Foreseeable Future

Red Sox NewsThe Boston Red Sox season of gloom continues. The team announced that it was shutting down outfielder Shane Victorino and third baseman Will Middlebrooks for the foreseeable future.

Victorino is out with recurring lower back problems and is receiving treatment. With Victorino out indefinitely, the team’s decision to promote another outfielder probably looks to be a choice between Andres Torres and Mookie Betts, who had not played outfield professionally until this season. Ryan Roberts could be a part of the solution.

Victorino, 33, is hitting .242 in just 21 games this season.

“We’re just trying to get him exposure to both center and right field in the event there is some further discussion and the ultimate decision is made to bring him here,” Farrell said. “That has not happened yet.”

Middlebrooks is suffering swelling in his right index finger which was fractured in May and hampers his ability to throw the ball from third to first. It is the third injury this season that has affected his plying time. He’s had an injury to two different fingers and also his right calf this season.

Middlebrooks, 25, is hitting .197/.305/.324 with two homers and nine RBI in 21 games.

Some media outlets in Boston are calling for the team to begin to turnover the roster. Only the ineptitude of the Tampa Bay Rays is keeping the Bosox out of the American League East cellar.

Jake Peavy and A.J. Pierzynski will be the subject of trade rumors, but manager John Farrell seemed to tamp down that talk.

This is still a bottom-line game.

” Peavy is a gamer. He’s a great clubhouse guy, with a fantastic pedigree. Pierzynski offers the potential of some much-needed offense, while having had lived the life of a winning baseball player,” said Farrell.

Bottom line it takes two to tango, and finding a willing trade partner wont be as easy as it is in your fantasy baseball league