Heyman: Red Sox Will "Turn To" Starting Pitchers Now

While Boston sorts out whatever is going on with Mike Napoli, they're also going to start to give pitching a keener eye. With Zack Greinke now signed, pitchers who aren't just desperate to latch on somewhere are now more likely to begin moving from team to team, so now is the time to get moving on that particular hole in the Red Sox roster.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports confirms that the Red Sox are going to start their Christmas shopping for the rotation soon, and not just for Ryan Dempster:

#redsox will now turn to starting pitcherrs. will look at everyone from anibal & lohse on down. seek value.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 12, 2012

Sean McAdam had a similar report on Tuesday, saying the Red Sox were looking at Sanchez, Lohse, Marcum, Liriano, and Dempster as options for the rotation. Just about everyone of potential value (and also Liriano). Sanchez is described as a "long shot", given he's probably looking to be the second-highest paid starter on the market this winter after Greinke. As for the rest, it depends on who the other suitors are, and what kind of demands they have: will Dempster drop his three-year or AAV demands? Will Marcum settle for one year with incentives? Will Lohse ask to be paid like a fourth starter, or will his 2012 cause him to want to line up behind Sanchez for the third-most lucrative deal of the off-season?

That's a lot of questions, but with the Greinke-shaped domino knocked over, some answers should start to surface soon.