BREAKING BOSTON SPORTS NEWS TODAY: Six- Time Pro Bowler Logan Mankins is Heading to Tampa Bay

The New England Patriots make a huge move today trading Offensive Guard, Logan Mankins to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for tight end Tim Wright and an unknown draft pick. Mankins has been a member of the Patriots eversince he was drafted by New England in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. Mankins provided the Pats for nine years with great consistent protection of New England's star QB, Tom Brady. One of the many reasons why Tom Brady has had such a great career is because of Mankins leading the offensive line with fantastic protection. The Bucs general manager Jason Licht who used to be in the Pats front office says, "We feel very fortunate. Logan is a great player. I'm a firsthand witness of what he means to the locker room as well. I was with him for three years." Mankins departure gives second-year guard Josh Kline an opportunity to become a starter and over the years, try to fill Mankins shoes at the guard position. This trade will save the Patriots $13.25 million over the next two years and also creates $5.7 million in cap space this year. 

This trade takes away a huge piece of the New England Patriots, but Tim Wright will provide Tom Brady with another great target. Wright's scouting report is, a great pass-catcher but not an on-the-line blocker. He is 6 foot 4, 220 lbs and would create a great receiver combination with Rob Gronkoswki (when healthy) and Julian Eddleman. The addition of Tim Wright will make Brady better as a quaterback and will make the Patriots a serious playoff or maybe even Super Bowl threat. 

• Citation: ESPN Boston

Ortiz Exits Game Again in Today's Loss in Series Finale against the Mariners

The Red Sox continued their cold streak today, extending their losing streak to eight games. The starter Allen Webster, gave up three runs on five hits in just the first inning in today's ballgame at Fenway. The Sox once again have bad news about their designated hitter, David Ortiz who in the 4th inning hit a ball off of his right foot and dropped to the ground in very bad pain. He did stay in the game however, blasting a ball of the wall in his next at bat. The hit should have been a double, but Big Papi limped to first and the trainers came out to check on him. Ortiz was then removed from the game with right foot contusion. This is Ortiz's second game in a row that he had to be subbed out because of an injury. Yesterday, he had to be taken out of the game because of a HBP(Hit By Pitch) on his right elbow, and now because of his right foot. This is a terrible time for these injuries to come for David Ortiz, because he has been locked in at the plate and has been carrying this offence, reaching base 20 out of 26 at bats and batting .412 in the past twelve games. There was some positive news though for the Sox today as their offence was excellent. The Boston bats were led by young star and new Red Sox addition, Yoenis Cespedes who had another fantastic game, going three for four with an RBI. Will Middlebrooks had a great game as well, going two for five with 3 RBI's. The Sox's offence dominated Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma with five runs on six hits, only pitching 2 1/3 innings. That is Iwakuma's shortest outing of the season by far and his ERA against the Red Sox in four career starts is 10.20 ERA, which is his highest against any team. 

After getting swept by the Seattle Mariners, the Red Sox will try to get something going and break their eight game losing streak in their 10-game road trip against three AL East rivals, the Blue Jays, Rays, and Yankees. The road trip will start in Toronto tomorrow with Clay Buchholz (5-8, 5.94 ERA) on the mound against Blue Jays starter, J.A. Happ (8-8, 4.39 ERA) in an American League East showdown at the Rogers Centre.

Source- ESPN Boston

The Red Sox's Struggles Continue as Ortiz Exits Game in 7th Straight Loss

After winning the World Series Championship in 2013 over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox were expected to be the team to look out for in the 2014 playoffs. But the Boston Red Sox have been struggling terribly this season going back down to worst in the American League East. They were handed their 7th strait loss today at Fenway against the Mariners. The Sox's starter Brandon Workman had a very bad outing today giving up seven runs on seven hits in the fourth inning. The Sox are now sixteen games back of .500 win percentage mark and 18.5 games back of the Mariners for the second Wild Card spot in the American League Wild Card race. To make things even worse for the Sox, their star player and leader David Ortiz, who leads the league in RBI's was drilled by Charlie Furbush in the 6th inning of today's ballgame on the left elbow and was subbed out in the 8th before his 5th at bat for Kelly Johnson. Ortiz had to leave the game. In response, Red Sox reliever Alex Wilson nailed Robinson Cano and both teams were issued warnings. Shortly after, the injury update came out saying that David Ortiz had a badly bruised left elbow. We will see tomorrow if Big Papi's left elbow is well enough to play tomorrow against the Mariners at Fenway for the last game of the series.

Source- ESPN Boston

Red Sox Sign Cuban Center Fielder, Rusney Castillo to 7 years, 72.5 Million Dollar Deal

On Friday, a Red Sox team source announced the landing of Cuban outfielder, Rusney Castillo to a 7 years, 72.5 million dollars deal. The 72.5 million is the highest total value ever for a Cuban player, so the Sox really believe that Castillo can really help get them back on top in 2015 after this mediocre 2014 season. The deal will take effect this season, so we should expect to see the Sox's promising new addition in some of the last 35 games left in the 2014 regular season. Hopefully, Castillo can bring some energy to Red Sox Nation that is desperately needed in this season. I an interview today Rusney Castillo said, "It really means a lot for me to be able to be a part of such an historic organization and I'm ecstatic to be here."

Castillo is an electric 27 year old right fielder, second baseman, shortstop, and most often center fielder from the top baseball league in Cuba, the Ciego de Avila league. Rusney Castillo stands at 5-foot-9, 210 pounds, but is very strong. "He is more of a doubles hitter than a home run threat, charging into the ball with a line drive right-handed swing", according to Baseball America. Red Sox manager John Farrell describes their young new outfielder as having "Over-average speed. Can play center and right field. Castillo is an exciting, aggresive and athletic player by all acounts." Farrell also says that according to the Sox's scouts, Castillo has power to hit the long ball and is a excellent base stealer, stealing 22 of 29 attempted in 2012. Rusney Castillo was one of the better players in Cuba batting over .320 in the 2010-11 and 2011-2012 seasons. But, he became most known for his incredible play for Cuba in the 2011 World Cup for Baseball when he was 21-41 at the plate with a batting average of .512. In 2013, Castillo did not play for Cuba's national team in the World Baseball Clasic because, before he left Cuba last December, Rusney Castillo was suspended from the Cuban team for "A violation of the code of ethics of revolutionary baseball", which indicated that Castillo had tried to defect from Cuba before.Many scouts have compared Rusney Castillo skills sets to stars like Yasiel Puig and the Red Sox own Yoenis Cespedes, (both players from Cuba) so this investment of over 72 million dollars could turn out exceptionally well for the Sox. Espn.com's Jayson Stark spoke to a talent evaluator that compared Rusney Castillo to Pittsburgh Pirates' phenom center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

With Rusney Castillo in the Sox's organization now, the Red Sox should be a team to fear in the 2015 season with young talent like Cespedes and Holt also. There will also be lots of discussions in the future about all of the Red Sox's depth in the outfield and how they will choose the starters with all of the young promising outfielders. Castillo has not played organized baseball for a year, so the Red Sox are going to try to get him into some Minor League games if they are still going on by the time that Castillo gets his deal situated. We are going to have to wait for more information in the future, to find out where Rusney Castillo's promising potential will make its exhilarating American baseball career's start.

Below is a great video of highlights of the Boston Red Sox's new electric addition, Rusney Castillo's with his many different talents on the diamond. Copy and Paste the video URL to internet search tab to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci14LWlYGKI

Sources- ESPN, ESPN Boston