PAWTUCKET – With the sappy euphoria of All-Star week behind us, it’s time to get down to brass tacks.

The Red Sox are only three games up on the Yankees in a tight AL East race; Tampa Bay and their big bats are ready to pounce at only 6.5 games behind; and the Fenway faithful is hungry for another championship. The pressure is on Boston to win, and in the next 2½ months they’ll try everything they can to do just that – perhaps including a shuffling around of players currently on the roster.

With only a couple weeks until the trade deadline, will Clay Buchholz be around to see October in Boston?

Roy Halladay has been the focal point of trade rumors ever since Toronto G.M. J.P. Ricciardi publicly declared that he would be shopping the Blue Jays’ ace. The prospect of sporting a pitching staff that includes a top three of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Halladay (not to mention Smoltz, Wakefield, Penny and perhaps Matsuzaka) would border on excessive. 

If the Sox were to trade for the Cy Young Award-winning Halladay, the package might have to include prized prospect Clay Buchholz. The 24-year-old righty has had a most unusual career with Boston thus far: in only his second game with the club, Buchholz threw a no-hitter against Baltimore before going 2-9 with a 6.75 ERA during the 2008 season.

This year Buchholz has pitched for Triple-A Pawtucket, where he’s been completely dominant, going 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA.

“Buch’s an interesting guy because he burst onto the scene with a no-hitter, but he still had development left,” said Pawtucket Manager Ron Johnson. “I think the organization made a really good call with him last year by sending him to the Fall League, and we’re reaping the benefits of it right now because he’s put together a really fine season.”

On Friday, Buchholz finally gets to make his first major league start of 2009 as the Sox head to Toronto. The call-up is described by Sox officials as likely being a one-and-done affair, with the pitcher expected to be sent back to the minors afterwards.

But the fact that the game will take place in Toronto certainly adds to the intrigue given the Halladay rumors. Blue Jays scouts were in attendance at his last start in Pawtucket on Sunday, but Buchholz hasn’t let the trade rumors affect him.

“It never really was an issue for me,” Buchholz said on Sunday. “Everything happens for a reason, so if something like that was to happen then you just have to take it for what it’s worth and you go on with your career. But I plan to be with the Red Sox for a long time.”

Some wonder whether the call-up is simply an opportunity for Boston to showcase the young flamethrower to Toronto before a potential trade. But Buchholz said he completely disagrees and, above all else, he’s just excited to be back in the big leagues.

His teammates have adopted a similar attitude, choosing to mostly ignore the trade talk and instead focus on playing the game.

“It’s uncontrollable and there’s nothing I can do, so I don’t worry about it,” said Pawtucket pitcher Michael Bowden, another highly touted Sox prospect. “There are so many other things that go into this game that you need to focus on, and you can’t let that stuff get in your head.”

Shortstop Jed Lowrie, who has played with Buchholz in Pawtucket while rehabbing this season, remembers when his name came up in trade talks for another big time pitcher in 2007: Johan Santana. Dealing with the rumors, Lowrie said, wasn’t too bad at all.

“I found it relatively simply,” Lowrie said. “Rumors are rumors, and getting traded is all part of the business. You just have to always prepare yourself for something like that, and if it happens you have to go into the situation with the best attitude you can.”

While Buchholz certainly seems to have the right attitude, it’s the powers that be who will ultimately decide his fate.

Johnson knows this, and that’s why he’s not sweating about Buchholz’s future either.

“I’m not going to play GM on this thing,” Johnson said. “Clay Buchholz is going to prepare to pitch for the Red Sox and do the best he can. What happens after that, it’s up to the guys upstairs. We’ve got some smart guys up there.”

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