Clay Buchholz

ESPN's Buster Olney has reported that there have been preliminary trade talks between the Boston Red Sox and the Celevaland Indians. The trade would help both teams as their needs will be partially fulfilled.

The trade has shape up so the Indians would trade their top prospect in Matt LaPorta in exchange for one of Boston's young arms being either Michael Bowden, Clay Bucholtz, or Daniel Bard. This would mean that LaPorta would be traded for the second time in two years.

All indications were that Brad Penny simply needed not to implode in his final spring training outing Thursday against Minnesota in order to secure the final rotation spot on the Red Sox. He did not disappoint, allowing three runs in five innings in the Sox's 7-3 loss.

Michael Cuddyer did most of the damage, driving in all three runs on a triple and a double. Penny struck out three and walked none, facing 19 batters and exiting with the game tied.

Entering spring training in 2009, the most talked about position battle for the Red Sox was at shortstop, where Jed Lowrie and Julio Lugo faced off. The battle didn't even last the duration of spring training, as Lugo found himself on the operating table getting knee surgery.