Sox Acquire Adam LaRoche

Yesterday morning the Red Sox acquired Pittsburgh Pirates first basemen Adam LaRoche in exchange for two minor league prospects. While LaRoche may not be the immediate answer we in Red Sox nation were hoping for, lets take a look at who the Red Sox actually got yesterday.

LaRoche is hitting a measly 247 this season with an on-base percentage of a little over 320. However LaRoche is consistently a better hitter in the second half of the season and has always played an above average first base, having just one error this season and a career high of only 5. LaRoche would appear to be a platoon player for the Sox in case Mike Lowell’s health goes completely south. For the near future however the Red Sox may have just picked up a better solution than Mark Kotsay or anyone on the bench the Sox have on their roster. LaRoche is a lefty with a sweet swing who uses the whole field when he is at his best. A somewhat streaky hitter has career averages of 25 home runs and 89 runs batted in over a 162 game season. He has however most recently be cited as lackadaisical because of the way the Pirates have been unloading talent in an attempt to get even younger than they already are. I for one will give LaRoche the benefit of the doubt and say that anyone playing for the Pirates has a right to be a little lackadaisical. While LaRoche is here you may also note some strong similarities to J.D. Drew because of his laid back and relaxed approach to hitting and the game itself. While he will not put up the on-base numbers Drew does LaRoche can be looked at as a power hitting lefty, whether that role is off the bench or in the everyday line-up. Despite playing for the Pirates LaRoche is not a stranger to playoff races as he was an Atlanta Brave in the early portion of his career from 2004-2006.

While LaRoche may only be a two month rental, the Sox gave up at best a back-up major league short stop in Argenis Diaz and a platooning middle-relief candidate in Hunter Strickland. The Red Sox did however have to pay the remaining salary on LaRoche’s remaining 7.5 Million dollar contract for this season, which for those of you keeping track at home comes out to around 3 million for the rest of the season. LaRoche gives the Red Sox flexibility at the corner infield spot that they never had with Kotsay and it also allows them to have a power hitter available off the bench, whether that be LaRoche himself or Lowell or Youkilis depending upon which of the two are in the line-up that day. This was a great value trade for the Red Sox because they gave up virtually nothing for a legitimate left handed power threat.