The Boston Red Sox are actively shopping veteran pitcher David Wells to determine what they could get if they decide to trade the lefty in the next 48 hours. Wells, 43, cleared waivers on Aug. 3, at a time when he was just starting to come back from a serious knee problem; on July 31, he allowed eight runs in 4 2/3 innings. Because he cleared waivers, he can be traded to any team without restriction, and Wells has pitched much better of late. He has 2.65 ERA in the month of August, walking five and striking out 20 in 34 innings. The notion that the Red Sox might consider trading Wells would've seemed ludicrous two weeks ago, but Boston is in freefall and has dropped six games behind the Twins in the wild-card race, and seven games behind the Yankees in the AL East. Wells has talked about retiring at the end of this season, so if the Red Sox keep Wells through the month of September and don't make the playoffs, they would effectively lose him for nothing.