[CityofBrotherlyShove]

David Wells told the media yesterday that on Saturday, he spoke to GM Theo Epstein and, after a lengthy conversation, rescinded his trade request.

He requested a trade to San Diego shortly after the season in order to be cloesr to his family. Epstein told Wells they wanted to keep him around in 2006 as he was a solid contributer in 2005. From the Globes' Gordon Edes:

"He told Theo Epstein, he said, the day before, and that Theo responded with a smile from ear to ear. "

So as far as we can guess, this leaves the Sox with a pretty strong lineup if all can stay healthy:

Schilling
Beckett
Wakefield
Wells
Arroyo/Clement

That leaves Clement/Arroyo and Papelbon to either come out of the bullpen (which would be fantastic) or to be used in a trade. Of course, I suppose Papelbon could be sent to Pawtucket until a spot frees up for him. He'd get plenty of innings there, while the same isn't a guarantee in Boston.

Odds are good that Arroyo isn't going anywhere. He just signed a contract extension with Boston at a discount, has gone on record as saying that he wants to retire a Red Sox, and was told, verbally, when he signed the deal that he'd be able toi play those years out in Boston. Trading him would be extremely poor for the reputation of the club when it comes to signing current players at a hometown discount. It's so difficult to get players to do this these days, trading Arroyo could end up being pretty costly, literally, for the Sox down the line.

[the sea word]

[quote=CityofBrotherlyShove]
That leaves Clement/Arroyo and Papelbon to either come out of the bullpen (which would be fantastic) or to be used in a trade. Of course, I suppose Papelbon could be sent to Pawtucket until a spot frees up for him. He'd get plenty of innings there, while the same isn't a guarantee in Boston. quote]

yeah i'm very happy wells came around. you don't trade a 15 game winning lefthanded starter for a 4th outfielder. sure he had ridiculous run support last year, and probably won't get as much this year, but should still win 13, 14, 15 again. better defense etc. i'm not as thrilled by the rest of the rotation as some are. schilling is still a loudmouth who sells too many pickup trucks and donuts, and i'm not penciling him in as the team's ace until i see him put up numbers. beckett if healthy is one of the best arms in baseball, so if he makes 30 starts that'll be great. wakefield i'm very worried about. trading mirrabelli for a 2nd baseman who isn't that big of an upgrade over graffanino still has me scratching my head. wakefield w/o mirrabelli sucked last year. clement we know wasn't good after getting drilled off the head, wish they could've found a way to get the overbay deal done. arroyo can't get righties out, not a bad 5th starter i guess. papelbon should be starting ahead of both clement and arroyo, maybe even wakefield.

[Lefty Noob]

Didn't he also say that he planned to retire at the end of the year? Apparently he and his family must have decided to suck it up for one more year and then have him call it a career. On a side note, has Clement fallen that far that fast? I recall he was pretty good with the Cubbies, but I didn't seem him pitch at all last year.