Most of the recent trade rumors have focused on Brad Penny, but Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports tells us that reliever Takashi Saito has drawn interest from several teams.  Apparently, Hank Blalock was close to being dealt for Saito, but the recent injury to Josh Hamilton made the trade impossible.

The interest in Saito surprises me, since a) Saito is older than dirt, and b) the Red Sox have a handful of other pitchers who are less expensive and would be more attractive in a trade (Masterson, Delcarmen).  However, as I’ve mentioned before, Saito seems to be pitching like the guy who dominated the National League for three years.

Saito since May:

If he can continue at a pace even close to that, he’s probably worth holding on to.  Trading Saito wouldn’t solve the problem of the rotation logjam when Smoltz arrives, and it probably wouldn’t give the Sox a return equal to the spoils received if Manny Delcarmen was dealt.

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