FanPost

Grading the Red Sox Trades


The trade deadline has come and gone, and boy was it something. Several contenders improved their respective rosters in anticipation of a playoff run; some more than others. While the general consensus seems to be that Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox didn't do enough to make the team better - there's no denying that they were substantially less involved in the trade market than other AL teams like the Yankees, the A's, and the White Sox - the front office did make a few moves, with each of them designed to help the team win games this year. Below is a summary of each trade, along with a subjective grade to reflect how I personally feel about the deal. Feel free to include your thoughts in the comment section as well.

Trade #1: Acquiring Kyle Schwarber from Washington for RHP Aldo Ramirez.

The Red Sox made their biggest move of the season when they obtained another powerful left handed bat to lengthen their lineup. If all goes well, this could be a very impactful move, but there are a couple variables making that "if" very tentative. For one, Schwarber is currently injured with a hamstring strain. Typically those types of injuries can be fickle, but I'm sure Bloom and company did their homework before giving up an asset for potentially damaged goods. The other issue is that Schwarber doesn't exactly fit into the depth chart anywhere from a defensive standpoint. Bobby Dalbec's 2021 struggles are well documented, and finding a left handed bat to create a platoon at first base seems to be a priority. The team is trying to transition Franchy Cordero from left field to first base in effort to accomplish this goal. Now it appears they'll attempt the same with Kyle Schwarber. I think being a former catcher will probably help Schwarber, but that remains to be seen. Stretching for tosses from other infielders on a gimpy hamstring may prove to be disastrous, but on paper, there's logic behind this experiment.

While it's possible that Schwarber's mutual option for 2022 could be picked up, that scenario has been characterized as unlikely by many evaluators, making this essentially a rental. Pitcher Aldo Ramirez, who has been one of the fastest risers in most Red Sox prospect rankings this year and won't be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this offseason, seems to have a good chance of making it to the major leagues one day. That being said, his ceiling isn't all that high. In a best case scenario, he probably develops into a backend starter or a quality relief pitcher. He's not an ace, and the odds of him ever making an All-Star team are slim. It's possible that this move comes back to bite Boston, but it's doubtful that Ramirez ever makes a huge impact at the major league level.

I would've liked to see Boston hold onto Ramirez and instead trade away one (or more) of the numerous prospects eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this offseason, but that might have required sending a more talented player. Perhaps Washington was insistent of obtaining younger talent that wouldn't need roster protection right away. Regardless, the cost wasn't an ideal, but it wasn't a substantial loss to the farm system either. Bloom (kinda) filled a need, and he did it in the form of a player who possesses a great postseason track record. Final Grade: B

Trade #2: Acquiring Hansel Robles from Minnesota for RHP Alex Scherff.

Is Hansel Robles the sexiest reliever to change teams this past week? Not even close. The ERA/FIP are higher than league average, and his WAR for the season is below zero. However, he will go from a high leverage role in which he was often closing games to one where he presumably won't face quite as many high-pressure situations. The pending free agent has decent strikeout numbers and doesn't surrender a ton of bombs, so as long as he throws more strikes (64% this year, according to Baseball Reference) then he should represent an upgrade towards the bottom end of the bullpen depth chart.

What makes this deal excellent, to me, is what Boston gave up, which was practically nothing. Alex Scherff earned a promotion to Double-A earlier this season, and the former 5th round pick might make it to Triple-A one day. If he's lucky, he might even get the call up to the Big Show to serve as an injury replacement, or the extra bullpen arm in a doubleheader before his career is over. That's probably a best case scenario for him though. Now in his fifth year of professional baseball, Scherff doesn't fall in the top 20-30 on any Red Sox prospect rankings that I've seen. (SoxProspects.com had him ranked #53 at the time of the trade.) He'll be Rule 5 eligible this winter, but that probably won't matter since he's unlikely to be selected. At the end of the day, he's a AAAA arm who has no business filling up an active major league roster spot for a full 162 games.

This is exactly the type of secondary move that a team in first place should be making. There is essentially no risk involved, the commitment between player and team ends at the conclusion of this season, and the bullpen looks a little deeper than it did the previous day. Final Grade: A

Trade #3: Sending Michael Chavis to Pittsburgh for Austin Davis.

Notice how I worded this one differently than the previous two. This trade feels like it was more about getting Michael Chavis off the 40-man roster than what the Red Sox got back in return. Maybe the Ice Horse privately requested a trade. Maybe the front office felt that he needed a change of scenery or that he deserved an opportunity to see the field more. Maybe his entire career is a ticking time bomb about to explode, and Bloom got what he could before the timer ran out. Boston's front office surely knows more than I do about the situation. However, none of that makes this a decent trade.

Austin Davis is a major league caliber pitcher by virtue of progressing through the minor leagues and cracking a big league roster. The good news with Davis is that he's left handed - before this week, Cora only had 2 southpaws in his bullpen, so having a little more balance can't hurt - and that he has options remaining, so he doesn't necessarily have to stay on the active roster to remain under team control. That's about it. The stats paint an ugly picture, and at 28 years of age, there's little reason to believe he can improve substantially. Put another way: the Philadelphia Phillies traded him away last year. The 2020 Phillies had a historically bad bullpen, and yet leadership decided that the team would be better off by showing Davis the door. I think that speaks volumes about what we can expect from him.

Chavis probably never had much of a future in Boston, but I struggle to accept that his value was this low. Perhaps his trade market was severely limited. After all, the guy acquiring him in Pittsburgh (Ben Cherington) is the same guy who drafted him here in Boston. Still, the return is underwhelming, to say the least, and I have a hard time convincing myself that this was the best Bloom could get for a former first round pick. If I'm being perfectly honest, I would have rather seen Boston receive a prospect to help the farm system in return. Final Grade: D

Summary

The theme of this site (and Red Sox Nation at large) over the past 48 hours has been that Chaim Bloom didn't take as much action as he should have during the final days of trade season. The 2021 Red Sox found themselves in first place at the end of July (much to the surprise of many people, myself included) and therefore they should have been worthy of a significant investment to improve a potential championship run. That's a fair opinion to hold, and I won't try to change anyone's mind, but what isn't being talked about enough (in my opinion) is what Bloom DIDN'T give up. Nobody is talking about the "haul" another MLB team received from the Red Sox because there wasn't one.

The baseball journalism industry likes to frequently rank each franchise's farm system in order from 1 to 30 based on their collective minor league talent. Ever since the Dombrowski era ended, Boston has been slowly climbing up the list, from the very bottom to around the middle of the pack, as Bloom accumulates young talent. I would expect to see Boston move up those rankings yet again in the near future, even though the Red Sox just traded away two prospects without getting any back. By virtue of subtracting less than its divisional rivals, Boston's future just got a little brighter, relative to New York's future and Tampa's future and Toronto's future. It's a roundabout way of looking at the big picture, but Boston's competition for the 2024 AL East division crown just got weaker, and that's a good thing for Red Sox fans!

Ultimately, Chaim Bloom was hired to make the most important decisions facing the Red Sox roster, and his plan from Day 1 has been to do so with patience and discipline. Every transaction that's been made over the past 2 years has been done with longevity and sustainability in mind. That didn't change this week, despite the fact that the 2021 version of the Red Sox has outperformed its Spring Training expectations up until now. The guy calling the shots in Boston didn't make any headlines this week, but he also didn't jeopardize the success of future Red Sox teams. Nor did he sit on his hands and do absolutely nothing. Adding a couple small pieces and one potentially significant piece counts as trying to get better, even if other teams tried harder. In the end, improvements were made. They were marginal improvements, but they were made responsibly. Final Grade: C+