22-year old lefty swinging 1B Lars Anderson was the Red Sox’ top prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. But he was a bust this season in the minors. He played in 119 games in AA-ball this year and he was 104 for 447 (.233 avg, .673 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 9 homers and 51 RBIs. Anderson also whiffed 114 times this season in AA and that’s way too many for a 1B that lacks power. It will be interesting to see if Anderson rebounds next season or if he falls off the Red Sox’ radar for the future.

With Tim Wakefield injured and John Smoltz, Brad Penny and Clay Buchholz all ineffective the Red Sox have promoted Junichi Tazawa to AAA. Tazawa was the Red Sox’ #7 prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America and he’s been showing why this year. He has started 19 games in AA+AAA ball this season and he is 9-6 with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. Tazawa has only allowed 83 hits in 104 innings this season while whiffing 91 batters showing that he has swing and miss stuff. The Red Sox can’t afford to wait around much longer for Buchholz and Smoltz to step up and Tazawa could be next in line.

The Red Sox have released 28-year old lefty swinging outfielder Paul McAnulty. McAnulty played in 90 games in AAA-ball this season for the Red Sox and he was 76 for 326 (.233 avg, .733 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 11 homers and 48 RBIs. The Red Sox won’t miss McAnulty as he was way too far down the organizational depth chart to get a chance with them this season anyhow.

The Boston Red Sox have seen enough of Clay Buchholz so they sent him to AA today and they likely won’t even bring him up when rosters expand in September. Buchholz has pitched in 16 games (15 starts) for the Red Sox this season and he was 2-9 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.76 WHIP. He allowed 93 hits and walked 41 batters in only 76 innings for the Red Sox this season and that’s just not good enough to get the job done. The Red Sox are hoping that Tim Wakefield will be ready to return sometime next week and that’s a good thing for them. Wakefield has started 23 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 7-8 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.

The Boston Red Sox will take their time with 20-year old lefty swinging outfielder Ryan Kalish. Kalish was the #6 ranked prospect in the Red Sox’ minor league system coming into this season according to Baseball America. Kalish has played in 69 games in A-Ball this year and he is 76 for 269 (.283 avg, .738 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 3 homers, 25 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. The Red Sox have a lot of depth in the outfield in the organization so they won’t have to rush Kalish to the big leagues.