Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein is apparently saying he "bought low on a player with considerable promise" when he snagged Jeremy Hermida(notes) from the Florida Marlins yesterday, according to MLB Trade Rumors. "He hasn't fulfilled his potential yet," Epstein said, according to MLB Trade Rumors. "We acquired him today to see if he can fulfill that potential." The Red Sox are apparently hoping the change in geography will help Hermida.

Red Sox fans have got to hope the 25-year-old outfielder can do better than hitting .259. He reportedly won't be expected to be an incredible defensive presence.

Contractually, Hermida has two years to show that Epstein's prediction was true.

Source: MLB Trade Rumors

Boston Red Sox ace Josh Beckett(notes) would like to stay in New England for a while, it appears. He's apparently planning to meet with the team in the next few weeks to discuss a contract extension, according to WEEI.

He'll make $12.1 million next year but is free to roam the streets of any city he wants after next season if a new deal can't be worked out.

It looks like Red Sox GM Theo Epstein is plenty aware of the big bucks it will take to retain Beckett: "He's put himself in a position to be valued very highly by us," he said to WEEI, but he wasn't predicting a definite deal: "Those things have a way of taking care of themselves. ... We'll see what happens."

Source: WEEI

The Atlanta Braves are denying it, according to MLB.com, but the word on the street is that the team is joining the fray for the services of young gun Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, according to Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated has it that the two sides are planning to meet up soon enough but GM Frank Wren tells MLB.com that no such plans exist.

Other teams supposedly willing to throw a boatload of cash at the 21-year-old lefty Chapman to get him are the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners. New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, and St. Louis Cardinals. In short, everybody wants him.

Source: Sports IllustratedMLB.com

The Boston Red Sox would love to bring back free agent outfielder Jason Bay(notes) and the rumor is that the team would be willing to pay him $15 million annually for the next four years, according to Sports Illustrated.

After all, the guy had a career year and hit 36 homers and drove in 116 runs this year. Plus, the 31-year-old Canadian became an American this year over the July 4th weekend.

The San Francisco Giants and New York Mets are expected to get into the bidding for Bay and either could take it higher than $15 million but one thing the Red Sox have going for it is that Bay was raised by a major fan of the team. Bay apparently wore a Red Sox onesie as a baby and had posters of Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski hanging up as a kid.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman already has more than a few major league teams after him. You can now apparently add the Detroit Tigers to the list, according to MLB.com.

The Tigers are apparently hoping to meet with Chapman and see if he's a good fit. "We're basically just at the interest level. Because of the nature, I think it's a situation where they're going to take the time to allow clubs to spend some time with the player and see who he is," said Tom Moore, Detroit's Director of International Scouting to MLB.

Chapman will likely get more than the $32 million that the New York Yankees dug up for fellow Cuban defector Jose Contreras(notes) in 2002, according to Sports Illustrated. And why not? The guy can supposedly hit 102 mph on the radar gun. The Yankees, of course, are in the hunt for Chapman as well and had him as a guest at Game 6 of the ALCS.

Teams that supposedly have serious interest include the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals.

The Toronto Blue Jays are apparently saying that they don't have the dough to make a competitive offer for Chapman.

Source: MLB.comSI.com

The Cleveland Indians have named the fella that managed to "lead" the Washington Nationals to a 158-252 record, Manny Acta, its new manager, but it wasn't before the Houston Astros tried to do the same thing.

The word in Houston is that GM Ed Wade offered a two-year deal plus a one-year option to Acta, according to MLB. Cleveland apparently offered a three-year deal with a one-year option. Negotiations were still going on as late as Saturday with the 40-year-old Acta meeting with Wade and the head of baseball operations for the Astros, Tal Smith, at Minute Maid Park. "We met, and we made an offer, and we knew that he was scheduled to have another conversation with Cleveland [Saturday] night," Wade said.

Guess Wade was banking on Acta having some sentimental reasons to join the club. After all, the Astros signed him out of the Dominican Republic when he was 17 and he played for the organization for six years before being a coach and manager for 10 years within the Astros system. The three fellas the Astros will now supposedly focus on are former Astros manager Phil Garner, Boston Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills(notes), and the guy who was the team's interim manager after Cecil Cooper got the can on Sept. 21, Dave Clark. The hope is apparently that a new manager will be named before the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees gets underway on Wednesday.

Source: MLB.com

Houston Astros GM Ed Wade used to run the Philadelphia Phillies and was responsible for drafting Ryan Howard(notes), Chase Utley(notes), and Cole Hamels(notes) as well as hiring the Phils' manager, Charlie Manuel. It looks like Wade is distracting himself from his past team's success with a lot of interviews to fill the open managerial slot in Space City.

Fox26 is reporting that Wade has the number of candidates down to four: former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta, Boston Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills(notes), former Astros manager Phil Garner, and interim manager Dave Clark.

Wade reportedly considered ten different folks in the first round of interviews and then chopped his list down. One of the fellas in the first round was supposedly Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly.

Whatever happens, Wade will surely do better than the parachuting trip he took in 2007 just before he was hired by the Astros when he managed to finish the jump off by getting caught in a tree and hanging up there till somebody could come untangle him.

Source: Fox26

The San Diego Padres didn't want Kevin Towers to be the general manager anymore so they canned him three weeks ago. And now it's looking like the team is close to bringing on 35-year-old Boston Red Sox assistant GM Jed Hoyer to take his place, according to ESPN. (Rumor has it that Towers could take Hoyer's place in Boston.)

Hoyer, who has been employed by the Red Sox since 2002 when he was 28, has been interviewed by the Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates in years past for GM jobs but it looks like he's going to get the gig this time around.

The former star pitcher for Wesleyan University (who reportedly still has the school's saves records) has never lived away from New England.

Source: ESPN

Kevin Towers is still getting paid to be the general manager of the San Diego Padres even though the team has relieved him of his duties so he's apparently planning to enjoy his free time for a little bit before signing on with any other club.

The Boston Red Sox have reportedly told Towers that they would make a job for him if he wanted to come to New England, according to the Boston Globe. Since Red Sox assistant GM Jed Hoyer is a supposed frontrunner to take over the job Towers left behind, Towers could end up taking Hoyer's spot in Boston if Hoyer gets the job in San Diego.

Of course, if the Red Sox are sniffing around, you gotta believe the New York Yankees are interested, too. Towers has a pal in Yankees GM Brian Cashman so it's believed that the Yanks will eventually offer him a position as well.

Source: Boston Globe

When Matt Holliday(notes) enters the free-agent market this off-season, there will be many teams that desire his services, but the New York Mets are expected to come after him harder than anybody else, according to Sports Illustrated.

The San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves are expected to make runs at Holliday as well, but no team has more of a PR job to do with its fans this off-season than the Mets, who started the years as supposed contenders and ended the season with a bunch of injured veterans and a second-to-last finish in the National League East. Holliday, who spent the season with the Oakland Athletics and Cardinals, supposedly wants to stay in the National League.

Sports Illustrated also reports that the Mets aren't likely to throw their dough at pitcher Roy Halladay(notes) and will instead to try and find a nice, steady mound presence that isn't going to break the bank.

Source: Sports Illustrated