Chicago White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle could be a welcomed addition to the Boston Red Sox starting rotation for the right price, but, for me, it wouldn’t include Clay Buchholz – a possible Jonathan Papelbon in the making. About the only way it makes sense is if Curt Schilling’s right shoulder is in worse shape than the Red Sox are letting on.

Some food for thought when discussing what role the 28-year-old lefty might fill for the Olde Towne Team in their search for their second World Series Championship in four years.

Buehrle vs. the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox and Indians (four possible playoff teams with playoff caliber offenses) over the last three seasons:
29 starts
99 earned runs
182 1/3 innings
8-13
4.89 ERA

Buehrle’s post-All-Star break numbers over the last three years:
16-20 with a 4.51 ERA in 45 starts
Buehrle’s pre-All-Star break numbers
28-11 with a 3.52 ERA

Back to the current members of the Sox: Here's a story on Kason Gabbard by yours truly that ran in Boston Metro's GameDay the afternoon of Gabbard's emergency start at Fenway Park earlier this season.

For those unsure of what GameDay is, it's a free newspaper/program handed out at Fenway Park before each home game that contains fresh material from an All-Star cast of writers including...well...me, Alex Speier, Mike Petraglia, Jeff Howe, Chris Price, Mike Giardi, and Chad Finn among others.
 
Interesting note about Gabbard's former community college coach, Mike Easom: Easom is a longtime friend of Boston Red Sox VP Allard Baird and is looking for a job within the Red Sox organization as a roving instructot/consultant or as a spring training instructor.

This is the kind of guy that Kason Gabbard is.

The 25-year-old left-hander, after his first season of pro ball in the Red Sox organization, returned for a visit to Indian River Community College in Florida a year after he’d left the Juco program for the professional ranks.
Gabbard had payback on his mind and he approached Indian River baseball head coach Mike Easom with an open checkbook -- literally.

“I think a year or so after he left the program, and I’ve had a lot of guys that have come back here and wanted to give to the program, he came up to me and said ‘Coach I want to give something back to you and the program,” said Easom, who retired last season from college baseball after more than 1,000 career victories built on the strength of future big leaguers like Gabbard, Joe Randa, Emil Brown and Luke Scott. “I said ‘that’s great and it’s nice to have people want to do that’ and then he said ‘How much do you want?”

“I’d never had anybody ask me that before and I said why don’t you make out a check for $2500 and he made the check out to the IRCC Program right on the spot,” said an appreciative Easom. “That’s the biggest amount that I think any player has ever given back.”

While the gesture doesn’t say much about Gabbard’s pitching ability, it does speak to the mound maturity and grace under pressure that the southpaw exhibited during a nine game emergency audition for an injury-riddled Sox staff last season.

During that stretch, Gabbard showed off a hard, sinking low’90’s fastball and a solid curveball and changeup arsenal with the Olde Towne Team and ended up 1-3 with a 3.51 ERA. His stuff wasn’t quite electric enough to label him a can’t-miss prospect, but Sox Manager Terry Francona and General Manager Theo Epstein couldn’t ignore the poise Gabbard displayed during the late summer look-see.

“We saw him last year and if he keeps his fastball down, his change up and breaking ball are improving as he see’s more consistent innings,” said Francona. “He’s been throwing the ball pretty well. We know he’ll compete and that he won’t be scared.

“He’ll give us everything he has,” added Francona. “If he’s down [with his pitches] he’s fine.”
Gabbard has continued to push the issue with Boston during his early season at Triple A Pawtucket. After posting a 5.23 ERA in nine games with the PawSox last season, the 25-year-old is 7-2 with a 3.24 ERA in 14 starts and has held Triple A hitters to a .235 batting average this season.

Was Gabbard a potential big leaguer in Easom’s mind?

“Oh yeah….without a doubt,” said Easom, who actually worked as an instructor for the Kansas City Royals last season while current Sox Vice President Allard Baird served was KC’s General Manager. “He was a 29th round pick but he got the biggest bonus that anyone ever received at Indian River.

“He was a 29th round pick, but he got single-digit [round] money and that says a lot about what people felt about him,” added Easom. “I always say that a coach is only as good as the players that he has, and we had some pretty good ones that year. It makes it easy to pencil in guys [into the lineup] when they’re like Kason Gabbard.”