The Over the Monster Podcast: The pre-lockout flurry

Welcome back to another episode of the Over the Monster Podcast. For a second straight week — because we have nothing better going on! — it is Matt and Bryan coming to talk about all the latest in Red Sox baseball.

And this may be the last time we have anything new of note to talk about for a while because of the pesky lockout. But before that and the resulting transaction freeze went into place, the Boston Red Sox were plenty busy, making a flurry of moves before the lockout went into place. The conversation here starts with the last transaction, with Hunter Renfroe being sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Jackie Bradley Jr. and a pair of prospects. We talk about the idea of trading an outfielder in general, and whether this was the right kind of move to make.

From there, the conversation goes more into what this means for the next dominos to fall whenever transactions do start back up. We talk about some of the best candidates available if the Red Sox do want to make a bigger move in the outfield. Both of us land on Seiya Suzuki being our favorite options, and we discuss why while also mentioning a few others of intrigue, including Nick Castellanos. We also wonder if there’s any chance they just don’t do anything in the outfield from here.

After that, we move to the pitching side of things and talk a bit about the signings of Rich Hill and James Paxton. We talk about each deal individually as well as what the team has done overall in the rotation. Was signing a trio of solid but unspectacular players the better play than just going for one at the top of the class? And are they even done here?

Finally, we talk about the latest rumor that the Red Sox have shown interest in Trevor Story. From there, we answer a few listener questions before signings off.

We hope you enjoyed today’s show. If so, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and leave us a rating and a review.