No move right move for Sox

The Boston Red Sox didn’t make a significant move at the trade deadline.

Meanwhile, the Yankees acquired a career .301 hitter in Bobby Abreu; a pitcher in Cory Lidle who won 13 games for the Phillies a year ago and a useful first baseman-outfielder in Craig Wilson (.267-13 homers-41 RBIs with Pittsburgh).

Don’t panic.

Sometimes, the best trades are the ones you don’t make.

The Red Sox need starting pitching but, in return, everyone wanted the Four Guns: pitchers Jon Lester (5-1, 3.49), Manny Delcarmen (1-0, 4.18, 30 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings), Craig Hansen (1-0, 4.79) and Jon Papelbon (2-1, 0.51, 29 saves in 32 chances, 54 strikeouts in 53 innings). Lester and Hansen are 22 years old, Delcarmen is 24 and Papelbon is 25.

Lester has been effective in the rotation, Delcarmen and Hansen have been promising setup men and Papelbon has been a lights-out closer.

They all throw in the low to upper-90s. They are the building blocks of the future and should only get better.

I realize that the Cubs once placed their hopes on the young arms of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and they have spent as much time on the disabled list as they have on the field.

But you can’t win a World Series without pitching and Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein made the right move by resisting the temptation to trade any of them.

The lefthanded-hitting Abreu will help the Yanks, especially with the short right field porch in Yankee Stadium. But he is hitting 24 points below his career average of .301.

Wilson will help with his power.

Lidle had a 4.74 ERA with an 8-7 record for the Phillies – although their ballpark is hitter- friendly – but, in his last American League season with Toronto, he was 12-15 with a lofty 5.75 ERA in 2003.

Having Trot Nixon go on the disabled list could be a blessing in disguise for the Sox because it will give more playing time to Wily Mo Pena.

Nixon had just seven homers and 47 RBIs in 310 at-bats while Pena has 5 homers and 24 RBIs in only 126 at-bats.

If Pena continues to drive the outside breaking ball to right field, he could supply them with a No. 5 hitter in the order they desperately need to complement David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the best three-four tandem in baseball.

They also need Coco Crisp (.269-4-20) to be consistently productive and Doug Mirabelli to fill the void left by catcher Jason Varitek’s injury absence.

They have the best infield defense in the majors.

Lefty David Wells stunk on Monday but once he gets consistent bite and location on his curve, he should grind out some important innings. He knows how to pitch.

Alter qualifying format at 250

The TD Banknorth Oxford 250 needs to tweak its qualifying structure.

To qualify, you have to finish in the top four in one of six 20-lap heat races. If you don’t, you have to finish in the top three in one of three 20-lap consolation races.

If you still haven’t qualified, you must win the 50-lap last-chance race.

The problem is the starting spots in the heat races are established by a random draw and if you don’t get a good draw, it’s very difficult to climb into the top four in just 20 laps.

It would be better to have five 30-lap heat races instead of six 20-lappers with the top five finishers qualifying.

Give drivers with a bad draw a better chance to qualify.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.