Ben's Second Act - Pitching

Upgrade the offense - check. The Red Sox lineup with Sandoval & Ramirez will allow the mediocre offense of 2014 to be much improved next year. What's next for Ben? Pitching. Re-sign Jon Lester by getting your offer up to 6 years & $140 million, $23 million a year. It would be horrible PR for Lester to sign with another team. Get pitcher #2 via trade & cast off several of your extra pieces. Hamels, Cueto, Sale, Zimmermann, Fister & others are out there. For trade bait I would dangle Cespedes or Victorino, Henry Owens, Betts or Holt, obviously Middlebrooks, maybe Allen Craig. The Sox need to thin out their herd of outfielders & pitchers. How about trading Buchholz & Owens to the Nats for Fister & Zimmerman? They get 1 starting pitcher & a high prospect while we get 2 proven starters to back-up Lester. I'm sure that Ben has the skinny on every deal possible. A rotation of Lester, Zimmermann, Fister, Kelly & De La Rosa would look pretty good. The winter meetings start late next week, so expect Ben to be very active. Other than pitching, I would let Blake Swihart be the 2nd catcher this year, play about 60 games as the backup to Vazquez, & see what his switch-hitting bat could add to the lineup.