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Tavarez hopes to impress Red Sox against the Royals

Jul 18, 2007 - 2:08 PM Kansas City (40-53) at Boston (56-37) 7:05 pm EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Julian Tavarez's job in the Boston Red Sox starting rotation may be in jeopardy.

Tavarez will look to solidify his spot when he starts for the Red Sox on Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park.

With recent call-up Kason Gabbard tossing a three-hit shutout on Monday and Curt Schilling just two rehab starts away from returning to the rotation, Tavarez may ultimately be headed to the bullpen.

The veteran sinkerballer has been strong at times this season, running off a 4-0 stretch from May 17-June 20.

But Tavarez (5-7, 5.15 ERA) has gone 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA, yielding 32 hits in 18 2/3 innings since June 25.

With the Red Sox holding a healthy eight-game lead over the second-place New York Yankees (47-44), manager Terry Francona and general manager Theo Epstein can afford to test some new faces out in the No. 5 spot in the rotation.

Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are the organization's top young arms, and both could be called up to fill the role, along with Gabbard.

In much the same way, the Royals are in constant try-out mode, using this season to find which pieces fit and which players need more development. General manager Dayton Moore has the daunting task of basically rebuilding the organization from the ground up, and youngsters are all over the roster.

One of the lone veterans on the club, Odalis Perez (4-8, 5.68) will start on Wednesday. The 30-year-old lefthander is someone Moore would love to trade as part of his rebuilding plan, but Perez's statistics have not created much demand.

Perez got knocked around by Boston in the second game of the season, allowing four runs in 5 1/3 frames, and has since allowed four or more runs in a start eight more times.

After Gabbard paced the Red Sox to a 4-0 victory in Monday's series opener, the Royals erupted offensively to post a 9-3 triumph Tuesday.

Alex Gordon and Tony Pena Jr. each had three hits to pace Kansas City, which has won 11 of its last 18 games.

Despite its cushy lead in the division standings, Boston has struggled of late, dropping six of its last nine contests.