NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Talking to the local media at the winter meetings Tuesday, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said despite the impending Shane Victorino signing, the team wouldn't "rule out" acquiring another outfielder. Cherington also said free agent Cody Ross remains an option.
"Obviously I don't want to say too much about the specific nature of the conversations because they go back a ways," said Cherington of talks with Ross, who is seeking a three-year deal, while the Red Sox are looking at a two-year commitment. "As of now we haven't been able to find something that makes sense, but the door is still open and we'll see what else happens. Again, he has other options."
Cherington would not speak about the Victorino agreement -- which a source has told WEEI.com is worth three years at $39 million -- but did talk about such an acquisition in generalities. One of the aspects the GM discussed was the defensive qualities a player like Victorino might bring. The 31-year-old has primarily played center field throughout the past five seasons.
"In our ballpark, we'd like to have someone who's played a lot of center in right field at our ballpark, if we can," Cherington said. "There's guys out there that have done both. If you play a lot of center field and play in different parks, there may be a little bit of an adjustment, but he can figure out right field at Fenway."
The GM also addressed the Red Sox' strategy this offseason of paying over market value in order to keep yearly commitments more manageable.
"Just really trying to keep as many guaranteed years as possible within a certain range of age, trying to keep guys as close to the prime years as possible," he said. "I think anybody is trying to do that. That's been a focus. Really, we've been focused on short to medium-term deals and there happen to be, we think a number of a fits for the team this winter that kind of fit into that category."
For more from the winter meetings, go to the team page at weei.com/redsox [1].
Links:
[1] http://weei.com/redsox
[2] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox