Ranger Suárez is officially a member of the Red Sox. We found this out unofficially last week. Which started raising questions: what about the 40-man roster? Had the team flipped an outfielder or pitcher, possibly with prospects, they would have plenty of room to sign one of the remaining free agents and add that unnamed infielder. Since they did the free agent signing “first” (if there is a trade for an infielder) it meant that the Red Sox needed to open a roster spot. And they did this by trading
a 40-man guy for a prospect.
Not that Tristan Gray’s 47 career MLB games makes him a veteran, but Baez has played 51 games a Double A. Transforming the roster spot into a starting pitcher and a catching prospect is nice and all, but what about that infielder?
Chris Cotillo reports that: “This is not a surprise or particularly revelatory, but have heard the Red Sox are, in fact, involved in serious trade talks all over the place when it comes to adding to the positional player group.”
Whether it’s signing Eugenio Suárez or trading for Brendon Donovan the Sox need a roster spot.
We know the Garrets (Crochet and Whitlock), Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Aroldis Chapman, Trevor Story, Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, and Carlos Narvaez aren’t being traded. There are a few others as well that are highly unlikely to be moved. Think Campbell, Oviedo, and probably even Romy Gonzalez.
Triston Casas would be selling very low on potentially a 30-homer guy at a corner. Could they upgrade from Connor Wong? Sure, but he’s not going to get that other player and the organization seems to really like his work with pitchers, which is reason enough to have him as a backup. Masataka Yoshida would need a really special deal to move the contract for talent.
Nate Eaton, David Hamilton, and Nick Sogard are all more valuable to the Red Sox than what they’d bring back in a trade. Same with Jordan Hicks. Or Greg Weissert (who isn’t bad, Weissert is fine. He’s just not getting you an infielder and is a weird throw-in because he’s got a good role). Kyle Harrison is probably in this group as well. He’s a bit like Quinn Priester. He was acquired with lower value and might end up with higher value. His Red Sox time so far doesn’t seem to indicate a big step forward. And after the last few seasons, while the Sox might trade one pitcher for a bat, they are probably not interested in giving up Early/Tolle plus Harrison, since they are all starting rotation options.
Where does that leave us?
Let’s run down the options.
Jake Bennett: they did trade for him for a reason and while that applies to Tristan Gray too, Breslow probably doesn’t want to move another guy he just acquired to clear space.
The prospect pitchers: Payton Tolle/Connelly Early. We know they don’t want to move either of these guys – at least as far as leaks about Ketel Marte discussions can be believed. But could one of them help the major league team solve an infield spot for more than a year?
The outfielders: Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu.
Duran has been the drumbeat all winter. The Mets seemed like a destination, maybe, but acquired Louis Robert Jr. instead. The Cardinals are an awkward fit because turning Donovan into Duran doesn’t really make them better when their window opens again after this rebuild. Duran is 29 and not a free agent for three more years, so he could stick around for a bit. Unless Chaim Bloom thinks maybe Duran has another 8.7 WAR season coming and he could flip him for a king’s ransom at the deadline during that season? Then it’s the Astros and possibly moving Isaac Paredes? He has one fewer year of control than Duran but is a couple years younger.
Wilyer Abreu? His biggest knocks are hitting lefties and getting hurt. And some of the injuries, like falling on the dugout steps, aren’t likely to be recurring issues. He’s the youngest of Duran, Donovan, and Paredes by a couple years. He’s not a free agent until 2030. He’s a Gold Glove fielder. He is, possibly, the best of the players mentioned for swaps here. Maybe there is someone else that has escaped the rumors who could be as valuable an infielder – who is available – and that team needs an outfielder.
That’s nearly the entire 40-man roster and, going guy-by-guy, you can see why the rumor mill has only a few targets. Zack Kelly? Jovani Moran? Patrick Sandoval?
And Craig Breslow says they want to emphasize defense?
This is a very good roster thatm less than a month from Spring Training, is missing either a second or third baseman. Mayer can only play one position at a time. I suppose a Romy Gonzalez-led second base rotation could work? But then if he or Mayer or Eaton struggle or hit the IL the team is back to square one.
At the start of this I thought I might see something there but unless it’s really out of the box, like, Kutter Crawford and Moran or Brayan Bello and David Hamilton (who did attract trade attention last year so there might be suitors out there for some price, if not high) then it really is: (1) trade an outfielder, or (2) trade a pitching prospect.
