Lucchino: Marlins asked about Crawford

Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino was a guest of the Dennis & Callahan show on Thursday. Lucchino was asked if he believes there is a possibility general manager Ben Cherington could make a bold move before the July 31 trade deadline.

"Yes, I do," Lucchino said. "I think Ben feels empowered to do it, I think he has the capacity to do it, when he took the job and in fact since then we have talked frequently about boldness. You've got to know when to be bold and when to be somewhat conservative and methodical. This is a club has been built on bold moves over the years, going back to the Nomar Garciaparra trade as one example. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that Ben Cherington and the entire baseball operations are all pointed to working hard to July 31."

There were reports Wednesday that the Marlins had spoken to the Red Sox about a possible trade for Carl Crawford. Cherington told FoxSports.com that "there was nothing going on with Carl," and WEEI.com reported Wednesday that the Sox have not pursued the idea of trading Crawford. Lucchino was asked about the report and the possibility of Crawford being moved.

"Dan Jennings, the guy from the Marlins front office who drafted Carl Crawford, was up in Boston scouting, presumably, Carl Crawford and others when Ben let us about the fact that there had been an inquiry," Lucchino said. "And given the encouragement that we offer regarding being bold I'm sure he asked them what they had in mind. That's just par for the course for this time of year. You explore all the possibilities, big ones, bold ones, small ones, incremental ones, whatever you can do."

Last week Lucchino sent an email to Sox season-ticket holders. The email was met with criticism by many in the media, who mocked Lucchino for referring to the "cheerful" Cody Ross, the "friendly" Mike Aviles and "the inspiring story" of Daniel Nava while the Sox entered the All-Star break with a .500 record.

"I'm glad we could get to a tempest in a teapot," Lucchino said of the email. "The impetus for that, the motivation for that I guess were two. One, it's just to say thank you. The season-ticket holders are a key constituency of ours and it's important you thank them every once in a while. … The second part was just to keep the faith. There's still an opportunity for this club to make a run, to demonstrate to its fans that winning is still the highest priority to us."

Sox senior advisor Bill James appeared on Doug Gottlieb's ESPN radio show last weekend and defended Joe Paterno's actions regarding his role in the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. James told Gottlieb that Paterno "knew less" about what Jerry Sandusky was doing to children than anyone at Penn State, a statement that met with considerable controversy by many who agree with the Freeh Report, which states that Paterno (and others) showed "total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims.”

"Bill has been told that he is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a spokesperson for the Red Sox and John Henry and Ben Cherington had a discussion with him and urged him to cease and desist on personal public comments regarding the matter," Luchhino said.

To hear the interview click on the Dennis and Callahan audio on demand page [1]. For more Red Sox news visit weei.com/redsox [2].