The Red Sox acquired Paul Byrd from the Indians in a post-deadline waiver deal for a player to be named later. The Red Sox are making a push to win the AL East, after seeing injuries to two key Rays players.Byrd, whose son once told him that if he were any good, the Yankees would trade for him, is 7-10 this year for the Indians, with a 4.53 ERA.
Byrd was reported to have bought $25,000 worth of HGH between 2002 and 2005, which was announced last year during the Red Sox-Indians ALCS.
While Byrd is probably an upgrade somewhere in their pitching rotation, the biggest area that he will undoubtedly help is the bullpen. Byrd will likely replace the injured Tim Wakefield in the rotation, and will give the Sox some extra flexibility when Wakefield returns. Wakefield has been used out of the bullpen before, and Clay Buchholz (2-8, 6.32) might also benefit from a move to the bullpen. The Red Sox bullpen has been its weakness as of late, so even starting pitching help will improve that, by a trickle-down effect.
Due to the latest rash of injuries (Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria) to hit the Rays, this small move might be anough to push the Sox over the top, and help them win the AL East.
We'll see.
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