The Oakland Athletics have trade Rich Harden to the Boston Red Sox for prospect Lars Anderson and a player to be named later. A former member of the U.S. Junior National Team, Anderson never quite lived up the the lofty expectations Boston had for him when the signed him out of high school in the 2006 draft. The 23 year old is currently batting .261 with 26 Doubles, 10 Home Runs and 57 RBI’s in his second year at Triple-A Pawtucket. Anderson’s best season in the minors when he hit a combined .317 with 32 Doubles, 18 Home Runs and 80 RBI’s between the Single-A Lancaster Jethawks and the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. His lone big league experience came in 2010 with Boston where he hit .200 with a Double in 18 games with the Red Sox.
UPDATE: According to multiple online sources this trade has fallen through at the last minute. Was previously announces by many as being a done deal. Sean McAdam of the Comcast reports the Red Sox wanted to take away a player to be named later after looking at Harden’s medical reports and just trade them Anderson, and were denied by Oakland.
The Kansas City Royals have traded Mike Aviles to the Red Sox for prospects Yamaico Navarro and Kendal Volz. The 23 year old Navarro has seen brief big league action with the Red Sox in each of the last two seasons. He batted .143 in 20 games with Boston in 2010, and batted .216 in 16 games this season. Prior to his 2011 call up Navarro batted .258 with 8 Doubles and 5 Home Runs in 128 Triple-A at bats for Pawtucket. He was originally signed by the Red Sox as a non drafted free agent back in 2005. Volz is 6’5″ right handed reliever. He is currently 2-3 with a 3.33ERA and two saves in 31 appearances at High-A Salem. He has struck out 56 while walking just 12 in 51.1 innings of work, with opposing hitters batting .222 against him. the 23 year old is a Team USA alum and was drafted by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the 2009 draft out of Baylor. He has been a starter in the Red Sox system prior to this year.
It’s been a long road filled with the highest of highs and lowest of lows for 2006 1st round pick Andrew Miller. The 6’7″ lefty was one of the best pitchers in the country for the North Carolina Tar Heels when he was selected by the Detroit Tigers with the 6th overall pick. He was rushed to the major leagues after just three appearances at High-A Lakeland, and pitched out of the bullpen for Detroit during the final month of the 2006 season. In 2007 he was back to being a starter, made 13 starts in the minors before once again being rushed to the majors and seeing marginal success. Following the season Miller was traded to Florida as part of the Miguel Cabrera blockbuster deal and struggled in both the majors and minors for three years before being traded by the Marlins to Boston during the 2010 offseason. Boston then released Miller before resigning him to a minor league deal. The 2010 season was the worst statistical season of Miller’s career going 2-9 with a 5.35ERA in the minors and 1-5 with a 8.54ERA for the Marlins. Since joining the Red Sox organization in 2011 however he’s finally beginning to blossom into the pitcher he was expected to be back in 2006. Miller went 3-3 with a 2.47ERA for Triple-A Pawtucket before being promoted to Boston. Since hitting Fenway Park, Miller has given the Red Sox a shot in the arm going 4-1 for the big club. In the in depth story, Miller talks about his roller coaster career, making it to the majors so quickly, dealing with the struggles he’s faced throughout his career, and embracing the success he has found in Boston.
Aside from making his big league debut, he went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts in 6 games in May, the 2011 season has not yet gone as planned for the Boston Red Sox top infield prospect Jose Iglesias who is currently on the disabled list at Triple-A Pawtucket after suffering a concussion on July 3rd. After hitting .285 with 10 Doubles, and 3 Triples at Portland in 2010, the 21 year old began 2011 at Triple-A Pawtucket with lofty expectations. Unfortunately for Iglesias and the Red Sox Nation, he has yet to live up to them, batting just .227 with only four extra base hits prior to being hurt. Iglesias is nearly ready to come off the disabled list, and he and Pawtucket hitting coach Chili Davis talk about their plan to get Iglesias’ offense back on track.
Carl Crawford played five innings for Pawtucket on rehab tonight going 1-2 with a RBI and BB in three plate appearances. Crawford spoke with the media following the game.