Manny Delcarmen
Rumors

Peter Gammons and Gordon Edes of espn.com give plenty of speculation about how the Red Sox off season will play out.

• Jason Bay is likely to return to the Red Sox for many reasons, but most of all, it's unclear who else will compete with the Red Sox to sign him.  Gammons feels the contract will be in the four years, $64M deal.  Bay recently rejected a four year, $60M-ish deal.  
• Alex Gonzalez seems likely to return to the Red sox, even though they declined his 2010 option.  Marco Scutaro is another option.
• Unless Adrian Gonzalez or Felix Hernandez are available to the Red Sox, a blockbuster trade is unlikely.  Nevertheless, the Red Sox are sure to explore the option of acquiring Roy Halladay again.
• The Red Sox were interested in Cody Ross back in July and may continue to try to acquire the outfielder from the Marlins.  Manny Delcarmen was the rumored compensation for Cody back in July.
• Rich Harden and Ben Sheets are likely free agent targets for the Red Sox.
• While Boston may be a good fit for Aroldis Chapman, neither writer thinks that the Red Sox will make a serious push for him. 

Aroldis Chapman may work well in Boston, but are they interested?

Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports put together a posting yesterday with a number of different trade scenarios.

• The Nationals have been shopping Nick Johnson to both the Mets and Red Sox recently. Word last week was that the Red Sox rejected overtures of a Johnson for Manny Delcarmen deal and Edes reports that the Sox were unwilling to part with Michael Bowden as well.
• While nothing much has been discussed between the two teams, the Nationals are reportedly interested in Jon Niese, Mike Antonini, Eddie Kunz and Bobby Parnell.
• The Red Sox are also reportedly interested in Jeff Francoeur.
• Edes suggests both Jose Valverde from the Astros and Mark DeRosa from the Indians for the Rays. DeRosa would replace the recently injured Akinori Iwamura. The Astros figure to ask for Wade Davis in return for Valverde from the Rays.
• Buster Olney from espn.com mentioned earlier today that the Phillies are interested in Brad Penny. Edes says that we can add the Brewers, Royals and Twins to the list.
• Similarly, Olney suggested that Jack Wilson could be a fit for the Red Sox and Edes suggestes Jhonny Peralta as well.

Buster Olney of espn.com has a bunch of good trade fodder in his most recent post:

• The Red Sox have had about six different conversation regarding trading Brad Penny. However, most of these talks seem to include inquires into young pitchers like Manny Delcarmen, Clay Buchholz or Michael Bowden whom the team is reluctant to trade. The Phillies are a possible destination for Penny.
• Cincinnati is in the market for outfielders.
• Jeff Francoeur and the rest of the Braves outfield has been terrible and they are expected to look for replacements soon.
• Jack Wilson has been in deadline trade rumors for the better part of the last three seasons, but there might finally be a logical fit this season with the Red Sox.
• The Giants need a bat, preferably a corner outfielder, but are not finding much on the market.
• Troy Glaus is looking less and less likely to return to the Cardinals this year which means they need to find a long term solution to replace him. Mark DeRosa of the Indians and Garret Atkins of the Rockies seem like logical candidates.

Peter Gammons of espn.com broke down the early trade market in his latest column.

• The Nationals will likely try to move Nick Johnson and Austin Kearns and are looking for bullpen help.
• Nick Johnson for Manny Delcarmen was floated between the Nats and Red Sox, but Boston wants to wait and watch David Ortiz's progression.
• Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee are not available according to Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, though he did field one inquiry about Martinez which he quickly declined.
• With Jhonny Peralta moving to third base, that opens up the possibility to trade Mark DeRosa Shapiro conceded.
• The Cardinals tried to entice the Red Sox with Khalil Greene, but Boston wasn't interested.
• The As and Padres face dilemmas when it comes to trading their superstars, Matt Holliday and Jake Peavy, respectively. Holliday is a rent-a-player and Peavy's huge contract makes him difficult to trade. But, more than anything, Gammons cites the differences in the Rangers trading Mark Teixeira with 1.5 years left vs. when the Braves traded him with just 3 months left. The haul brought in by the Rangers was significantly greater. If the As and Padres wait too long, they may not get much at all.