2020 Rotation

Traut

lost his degree
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
12,750
My Desk
Pitchers and catchers report in 2 days. Here is the Red Sox current rotation:

  • Chris Sale (147.1 innings in 2019)
  • Eduardo Rodriguez (203.1 innings in 2019)
  • Nathan Eovaldi (67.2 innings in 2019)
  • Martin Perez (165.1 innings in 2019)
In any other non-trading the best player since Ted Williams offseason - the rotation - or lack thereof would be THE story heading into the season.

Rodriguez jumped form 129.2 innings in 2018 to 203.1 in 2019. Sale and Eovaldi have well documented injury issues. And Martin Perez is what he is. They have no 5th starter.

How the rotation shapes up - Sale and Eovaldi being healthy and Rodriguez being able to handle the workload - along with finding a 5th starter is going to make the difference from finishing 4th in the AL East or contending for a Wild Card.

What is the front office going to do to fill the innings?
 

DeadlySplitter

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 20, 2015
33,247
sign from the scrap heap like Taijuan Walker, and then use an opener every 5th day. open twice every 5 days if you need to.
 

RG33

Certain Class of Poster
SoSH Member
Nov 28, 2005
7,199
CA
Here is the list of remaining SP free agents. There are a few intriguing short-term fills in my mind, depending upon health of course, will players like Aaron Sanchez, Buchholz, Taijuan Walker, Marco Estrada, or Matt Harvey.

Andrew Cashner (33, 1.8)
Jason Vargas (37, 1.8)
Aaron Sanchez (27, 0.8)
Clay Buchholz (35, 0.1)
Taijuan Walker (27, 0.0)
Jeremy Hellickson (33, -0.1)
Marco Estrada (36, -0.2)
Clayton Richard (36, -0.2)
Wade LeBlanc (35, -0.3)
Matt Harvey (31, -0.3)
Ervin Santana (37, -0.4)
Trevor Cahill (32, -0.8)

EDIT: Leblanc signed ML deal and Sanchez out 12-14 months
 
Last edited:

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,713
Sanchez had shoulder surgery in September, expected recovery time of 12-14 months.
 

chawson

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
4,660
No harm in signing one or two of those guys to minor league deals if you can get them, but it makes more sense to me to throw money at Puig for a pillow deal now and then trade an outfielder from strength, maybe Puig himself, at the deadline.

Our chances at Mookie aside, I’d rather sign Puig to something like 2/$20 or 3/$30 now than Springer or Ozuna at two or three times that amount next season. Or a 34-year-old Michael Brantley.
 

Sox Puppet

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2016
724
Rodriguez jumped form 129.2 innings in 2018 to 203.1 in 2019. Sale and Eovaldi have well documented injury issues. And Martin Perez is what he is. They have no 5th starter.
Wow, yeah, when you put it that way, it looks pretty grim. I hope the bullpen guys have put their work in this winter. We're looking at a lot of 3-4 IP starts.
 

Diamond Don Aase

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 16, 2001
1,069
Merrimack Valley
Here is the list of remaining SP free agents. There are a few intriguing short-term fills in my mind, depending upon health of course, will players like Aaron Sanchez, Buchholz, Taijuan Walker, Marco Estrada, or Matt Harvey.

Andrew Cashner (33, 1.8)
Jason Vargas (37, 1.8)
Aaron Sanchez (27, 0.8)
Clay Buchholz (35, 0.1)
Taijuan Walker (27, 0.0)
Jeremy Hellickson (33, -0.1)
Marco Estrada (36, -0.2)
Clayton Richard (36, -0.2)
Wade LeBlanc (35, -0.3)
Matt Harvey (31, -0.3)
Ervin Santana (37, -0.4)
Trevor Cahill (32, -0.8)
Wade LeBlanc signed a minor-league contract with the Orioles last month.
 

Green Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2000
2,277
CT
Taijuan Walker is interesting but reports from a recent workout had him throwing 85-88 which is down significantly from where he was prior to TJ surgery. I still think he would be worth a mL contract and let him start the season with Pawtucket or extended spring training to return to form.

another name who I think is still available but not on the list above is Colin McHugh
 

Coachster

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 3, 2009
8,945
New Hampshire
McHugh is my guy. An actual major league pitcher. If he’s healthy, his numbers are a whole lot better than the rest of this motley crew of free agents.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
McHugh is my guy. An actual major league pitcher. If he’s healthy, his numbers are a whole lot better than the rest of this motley crew of free agents.
McHugh will be 33 in June and wasn’t good last season. Agree that signing McHugh is more appealing than signing one of the scrubs on that list, but it’s still a flier — there’s a good chance McHugh is cooked.
 

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,681
Pete Abe has a 'Maybe the Sox have reason to be optimistic' piece, in which he wrote "Based on observations of their early work at spring training, Eovaldi and Sale are now healthy." I know that may just be a variation on 'He reported to spring training in the best shape of his life', but I guess I'm hoping there is something to this.
 

grimshaw

Member
SoSH Member
May 16, 2007
4,220
Portland
Edit: Oops just saw the rotation thread below. Mods feel free to lock if redundant.

We're entering mid February. Pitchers and catchers will be down south in no time, and our projected rotation is very thin before even considering health.

Say what you want about Porcello, but those innings were consistently scarfed up regardless of how poor they were at times. And when Price did pitch he could work deep.

These are the current 40 man pitchers (bolded are new acquisitions). There are a couple guys not yet added who may contribute late this season such as Mata, Houck and maybe another arm or two from Portland as well as NRIs.

Sale
Edro
Eovaldi
Martin Perez
Hembree
Barnes
Walden
Brazier
Colton Brewer
Josh Taylor
Darwinzon Hernandez
Ryan Weber
Mike Shawaryn
Josh Osich
Yoan Ayber
Kyle Hart
Chris Mazza
Austin Brice
Jeffrey Springs
Matt Hall


Not exactly an inspired lot. The new guys mostly seem like filler but maybe one or two hit.

I'd actually like to see them try and do the Tampa thing from last year, have a few bullpen games a week and pray to god the top three are healthy. They have the extra roster spot this year, so maybe they can roll with 14 pitchers. Regardless, that's a whole ton of innings needed from a whole lot of guys not used to a ton of innings.
 

Devizier

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 3, 2000
19,465
Somewhere
At this point, it honestly looks like bringing back Cashner would be an option. He's at least good for healthy innings and he's got to be better than he showed last year.
 

Tyrone Biggums

nfl meets tri-annually at a secret country mansion
SoSH Member
Aug 15, 2006
6,424
The 5th spot is most likely Ryan Webers spot to lose.
 

Plympton91

bubble burster
SoSH Member
Oct 19, 2008
12,408
As I said in the other thread, by trading Betts and Price, the Red Sox have announced that they are perfectly fine with a 4th place finish in the AL East. Their chances of winning a wild card have to be below 10 percent. They should not play around. Don’t bother signing anybody. Use Teddy Stankiewicz as the 5th starter or something. Trade fully subsidized Barnes and Workman to get the best possible prospects. There no point in winning 80 or 84 games. They’ve declared money more important than wins in 2020; do it right and tank in order to maximize what you get out of the lost season.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2008
11,304
As I said in the other thread, by trading Betts and Price, the Red Sox have announced that they are perfectly fine with a 4th place finish in the AL East. Their chances of winning a wild card have to be below 10 percent. They should not play around. Don’t bother signing anybody. Use Teddy Stankiewicz as the 5th starter or something. Trade fully subsidized Barnes and Workman to get the best possible prospects. There no point in winning 80 or 84 games. They’ve declared money more important than wins in 2020; do it right and tank in order to maximize what you get out of the lost season.
Depending on where you looked before they were projected high 80s low 90s, Betts and Price are probably 8-10 wins, Verdugo is probably 3-4, whoever you sign to take Price's spot is maybe 2 wins, so basically you're still looking at projected low to mid 80s without making any major moves, no way that's below 10% to make the playoffs
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2008
11,304
If he comes super cheap give Buchholz a shot, he sucked last year but was great in 2018 before he got hurt late in the year
 

chawson

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
4,660
The 5th spot is most likely Ryan Webers spot to lose.
Sorta. They’ve still got a decent shot at a Wild Card, especially with the Astros potentially in disarray, so they’re not gonna punt if that’s what you mean. The fifth starter is probably Weber or Brice for an inning followed by Matt Hall for three, or something similar that we all thing is terrible until it somehow works.

The Red Sox are rarely going to get a decent starter to sign a one-year deal to play in a hitters’ park when they have to face the Yankees 19 times a year. A lot of those guys want to put up solid numbers so they can re-test the market, which is why getting Martin Perez, a guy with actual upside, was a low-key steal.

The way to do this is to sign hitters with upside and trade the surplus for pitching. SoxScout suggested earlier that Bloom should now sign Holt and deal Chavis for a starter, and I’ve already crowed enough about doing similarly with an outfielder.
 

Tyrone Biggums

nfl meets tri-annually at a secret country mansion
SoSH Member
Aug 15, 2006
6,424
Sorta. They’ve still got a decent shot at a Wild Card, especially with the Astros potentially in disarray, so they’re not gonna punt if that’s what you mean. The fifth starter is probably Weber or Brice for an inning followed by Matt Hall for three, or something similar that we all thing is terrible until it somehow works.

The Red Sox are rarely going to get a decent starter to sign a one-year deal to play in a hitters’ park when they have to face the Yankees 19 times a year. A lot of those guys want to put up solid numbers so they can re-test the market, which is why getting Martin Perez, a guy with actual upside, was a low-key steal.

The way to do this is to sign hitters with upside and trade the surplus for pitching. SoxScout suggested earlier that Bloom should now sign Holt and deal Chavis for a starter, and I’ve already crowed enough about doing similarly with an outfielder.
I agree with this. In a strange way I think we've seen the best case scenario out of Chavis already. Sell high.
 

EricFeczko

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 26, 2014
4,823
As I said in the other thread, by trading Betts and Price, the Red Sox have announced that they are perfectly fine with a 4th place finish in the AL East. Their chances of winning a wild card have to be below 10 percent. They should not play around. Don’t bother signing anybody. Use Teddy Stankiewicz as the 5th starter or something. Trade fully subsidized Barnes and Workman to get the best possible prospects. There no point in winning 80 or 84 games. They’ve declared money more important than wins in 2020; do it right and tank in order to maximize what you get out of the lost season.
On avearge, there's around 850 innings or so for starters. Even with a 5th day opener, we're still looking at 750-800 innings. The above starters pitched 565 innings last year. I think you bring in the young non-mata pitchers (stank, shawaryn, maybe houck as an opener) and try to sell high if possible, but there's a good chance we'll need a warm body or two on top of that.

I think it really depends on how much these insurance starters cost. If we're looking at ML deals or $1-2 million, I don't have a problem stashing one or two potential starters for insurance. 250-300 innings may be spread among 3 or (likely) more pitchers.

I'd shop Barnes and Workman but also potentially gamble on them having higher leverage as mid-season acquisitions. Unless there's something alarming that only the team knows about, I wouldn't be bothered by a lack of deal in the offseason.


The way to do this is to sign hitters with upside and trade the surplus for pitching. SoxScout suggested earlier that Bloom should now sign Holt and deal Chavis for a starter, and I’ve already crowed enough about doing similarly with an outfielder.
I have mixed reservations about this, depending on the cost and length of Holt's (31) putative contract. Its more likely that barnes (29) and workman (31) start to falter than Chavis (24). Furthermore, Chavis has value on a team without any 1B/2B that wants to stay under the tax limit. At least until Dalbec is ready. I could see Chavis as a mid-season trade, particularly if he gets hot at some point during the season and could truly be sold "high".

If we can somehow get holt for a 1/5, or 2/10 deal, then sure, I'd be happy with that.
 

Plympton91

bubble burster
SoSH Member
Oct 19, 2008
12,408
Why would anyone think that Dalbec has a higher upside than Chavis? He’s been older and a least marginally less productive at every level of the high minors.

For A+ / AA / AAA

Age
Dalbec 23 / 23-24 / 24; vs
Chavis 20-21 / 21-22 / 22-23;

OPS
Dalbec 945 / 829 / 779. Vs
Chavis 965 / 834 / 911.
 

shepard50

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 18, 2006
8,167
Sydney, Australia
Barnes and Workman seem like keys to a fairly thin bullpen. Why trade them when you just create two problems by solving one?

Darwinzon and/or Weber could play opener, but you would want some longer arms in the bullpen than what they have now. Especially given the three batter rule means more BF per appearance and so less appearances per pitcher.

Or would you just rotate between Kyle Hart and Tanner Houck and dare I say Brian Johnson?
 

HomeRunBaker

bet squelcher
SoSH Member
Jan 15, 2004
30,096
As I said in the other thread, by trading Betts and Price, the Red Sox have announced that they are perfectly fine with a 4th place finish in the AL East. Their chances of winning a wild card have to be below 10 percent. They should not play around. Don’t bother signing anybody. Use Teddy Stankiewicz as the 5th starter or something. Trade fully subsidized Barnes and Workman to get the best possible prospects. There no point in winning 80 or 84 games. They’ve declared money more important than wins in 2020; do it right and tank in order to maximize what you get out of the lost season.
Seconding what scottno posted in response. The consensus odds have us tied for 5th in the AL behind NY, Hou, Minn, and TB with a Win Total of 85.5 and competing with Cleveland as one of the two AL Wildcard teams.
 

EricFeczko

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 26, 2014
4,823
Why would anyone think that Dalbec has a higher upside than Chavis? He’s been older and a least marginally less productive at every level of the high minors.

For A+ / AA / AAA

Age
Dalbec 23 / 23-24 / 24; vs
Chavis 20-21 / 21-22 / 22-23;

OPS
Dalbec 945 / 829 / 779. Vs
Chavis 965 / 834 / 911.
Dalbec has been scouted as a better arm and more polished defender than Chavis. I could see Dalbec having greater position flexibility too -- though, he's been mostly at 3B in the minors...

In any case, Dalbec may be ready by the trade deadline, making either one exchangeable.
 

Tyrone Biggums

nfl meets tri-annually at a secret country mansion
SoSH Member
Aug 15, 2006
6,424
Dalbec has been scouted as a better arm and more polished defender than Chavis. I could see Dalbec having greater position flexibility too -- though, he's been mostly at 3B in the minors...

In any case, Dalbec may be ready by the trade deadline, making either one exchangeable.
Well not to mention the addional year of control and the fact Chavis cooled off after the league adjusted to him. I think you could get a lot for him in terms of a young comparable SP. A team like Tampa ATL or SD might be a good partner
 

Plympton91

bubble burster
SoSH Member
Oct 19, 2008
12,408
Seconding what scottno posted in response. The consensus odds have us tied for 5th in the AL behind NY, Hou, Minn, and TB with a Win Total of 85.5 and competing with Cleveland as one of the two AL Wildcard teams.
I need to get me an online gambling account then. I’d put the over/under at 81. They just aren’t that good. Edro is a major regress risk after career high innings; Sale hasn’t pitched a full season since he was traded. Eovaldi will not stay healthy. They have no quality at AAA, one interesting prospect at AA who hasn’t translated talent to output yet, and a little bit better depth in A ball. There’s not enough pitching; at all.

in addition to the teams you listed, I have them behind Oak, Tex, and Tor, with the White Sox nipping at their heels and the Angels held back only by their even worse pitching situation.
 

RedOctober3829

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
55,298
deep inside Guido territory
As I said in the other thread, by trading Betts and Price, the Red Sox have announced that they are perfectly fine with a 4th place finish in the AL East. Their chances of winning a wild card have to be below 10 percent. They should not play around. Don’t bother signing anybody. Use Teddy Stankiewicz as the 5th starter or something. Trade fully subsidized Barnes and Workman to get the best possible prospects. There no point in winning 80 or 84 games. They’ve declared money more important than wins in 2020; do it right and tank in order to maximize what you get out of the lost season.
They aren't tanking. If they strip the team down, it will take years and years to be a contender again. As constituted, they are a mid 80's win team with a little luck could get to 90 wins. Next offseason, they will spend over the tax if there is an impact player that can improve the team. They aren't that far away. Stripping the roster down is not needed. Now if Eovaldi and Sale get hurt, that will accomplish your wish anyways and their record will not be good and they'd be in line for a top 10 pick.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 10, 2017
5,959
I think they need to build up a stable of 7-8 ML-ready starting pitchers to work with, even if some are from the scrap heap. To at least give yourself a chance at building a traditional rotation. Then if it is apparent that only 3-4 will work out as the first part of the season plays out, then you go the opener route 1-2 times every 5 days and patch it together with cycling relievers all season. OTOH, this would take a very disciplined manager to make it work, and we don't exactly have the cream of the crop sitting out there waiting to take this job.
 

Savin Hillbilly

loves the secret sauce
SoSH Member
Jul 10, 2007
18,783
The wrong side of the bridge....
Well not to mention the addional year of control and the fact Chavis cooled off after the league adjusted to him. I think you could get a lot for him in terms of a young comparable SP. A team like Tampa ATL or SD might be a good partner
Is this not 100% normal rookie behavior?

I mean, here's Rafael Devers' monthly splits from 2017:

July 1.231
Aug .812
Sep .727

This is what happens: rookie hits league with adrenalin buzz from promotion, opposing teams don't take him seriously, he rakes, opposing teams say "OK, we have to put a little effort into getting this guy out," and that combined with the promotion adrenalin wearing off = short-term performance decline. It's true that some hitters never really adjust to the adjustment, but there's no particular reason to assume that Chavis will be one of them.
 

HomeRunBaker

bet squelcher
SoSH Member
Jan 15, 2004
30,096
I need to get me an online gambling account then. I’d put the over/under at 81. They just aren’t that good. Edro is a major regress risk after career high innings; Sale hasn’t pitched a full season since he was traded. Eovaldi will not stay healthy. They have no quality at AAA, one interesting prospect at AA who hasn’t translated talent to output yet, and a little bit better depth in A ball. There’s not enough pitching; at all.
I don’t necessarily disagree with your concerns. When you are relying on Martin Perez to be an impact pitcher your floor is low. I do feel however that you are discounting how poor so many of the AL teams are to a degree. Balt & Det are in the mid-50’s win totals with KC & Sea in the mid-60’s.

OTOH, if our manager/FO is capable of maximizing usage of Openers and a revolving door bullpen to Pawtucket we could reach that mid-80’s number. Our offense is still going to be among the best in baseball.
 

InsideTheParker

persists in error
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
40,371
Pioneer Valley
Barnes and Workman seem like keys to a fairly thin bullpen. Why trade them when you just create two problems by solving one?

Darwinzon and/or Weber could play opener, but you would want some longer arms in the bullpen than what they have now. Especially given the three batter rule means more BF per appearance and so less appearances per pitcher.

Or would you just rotate between Kyle Hart and Tanner Houck and dare I say Brian Johnson?
Workman showed up on one of mlbn's best relief pitchers of 2019 lists recently. I assumed that he and Barnes would share the closer spot. Without them the BP is really thin.
 

Tyrone Biggums

nfl meets tri-annually at a secret country mansion
SoSH Member
Aug 15, 2006
6,424
Is this not 100% normal rookie behavior?

I mean, here's Rafael Devers' monthly splits from 2017:

July 1.231
Aug .812
Sep .727

This is what happens: rookie hits league with adrenalin buzz from promotion, opposing teams don't take him seriously, he rakes, opposing teams say "OK, we have to put a little effort into getting this guy out," and that combined with the promotion adrenalin wearing off = short-term performance decline. It's true that some hitters never really adjust to the adjustment, but there's no particular reason to assume that Chavis will be one of them.
Of course. My point is that is production spike when he first came up kind of came out of nowhere. He had a really good rookie year. But he also projects more as a corner infield prospect which is a strength in the system. You can use that blazing start in order to get a good young pitcher. Dalbec comes up and replaces him.
 

joe dokes

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
30,236
Workman showed up on one of mlbn's best relief pitchers of 2019 lists recently. I assumed that he and Barnes would share the closer spot. Without them the BP is really thin.
I think the idea is that if things go south early, two low-priced, quality relief pitchers could fetch a good return in mid-season deals. I'd be shocked if either was dealt early or later if the team is seriously competitive.
 

AlexCorasFilmRoom

New Member
Jan 31, 2020
69
I like the idea of trading either Chavis or Dalbec for a young SP. Joey Lucchesi comes to mind immediately as the kind of SP the Sox might be able to get for one of these two. You're obviously not going to get an ace, but you can get a solid 3 or 4 who the Sox could have multiple years of control.

Walker wouldn't be a bad option for an opener.
 

Green Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2000
2,277
CT
I like the idea of trading either Chavis or Dalbec for a young SP. Joey Lucchesi comes to mind immediately as the kind of SP the Sox might be able to get for one of these two. You're obviously not going to get an ace, but you can get a solid 3 or 4 who the Sox could have multiple years of control.

Walker wouldn't be a bad option for an opener.
I had a similar thought. In fact, the rumored deal between the Dodgers and Angels which involving Stripling has fallen through. Obviously there has been a lot of communication between Boston and LAD. I wonder if a second deal for Stripling is a possibility. Not really sure what the Dodgers would be thinking, but a young 3Bman who is stuck behind Devers, might have some appeal to the Dodgers who have a 35yo 3Bman in Turner and who just moved a young infielder..... Even though he really hasn't played 3B in the majors, I think that is likely Chavis' best position..... This scenario (Chavis or Dalbec) works according to the trade simulator.
 

Why Not Grebeck?

New Member
Feb 29, 2008
378
Here's the problem with the opener thing:
1) You still need some number of pitchers to pitch the other 8 innings that day, which just turns into a bullpen cascade if you don't have a few arms that can consistently give you 4-6 innings.
2) We're going to have to do that anyhow when Eovaldi and Sale inevitably get hurt for weeks at a time.

So, like, by all means, use an opener, but it still doesn't solve the problem of 'there aren't enough actual innings here'
 

Savin Hillbilly

loves the secret sauce
SoSH Member
Jul 10, 2007
18,783
The wrong side of the bridge....
Thinking outside the box, and I hate to say this because how many beloved players can I stand to lose in one year: but if the Sox are in contention at the deadline but struggling with the rotation, and Dalbec seems clearly ready, what about trading Devers for a really good (i.e. #2 or better), cost-controlled starter? We have an emerging surplus at 3B and a shortage in the rotation--so far we're talking about addressing this at the bottom of the depth chart, but there's no particular reason we couldn't do it at the top instead.

Obviously you can't do this till you're sure Dalbec is ready.

Why Not Grebeck -- agree that the opener concept is scary for a team with so many durability issues already baked into the rotation. The 26th man will help with this (I assume the Sox will use the slot on the bullpen, not the bench), but it's still a concern.
 

AlexCorasFilmRoom

New Member
Jan 31, 2020
69
I had a similar thought. In fact, the rumored deal between the Dodgers and Angels which involving Stripling has fallen through. Obviously there has been a lot of communication between Boston and LAD. I wonder if a second deal for Stripling is a possibility. Not really sure what the Dodgers would be thinking, but a young 3Bman who is stuck behind Devers, might have some appeal to the Dodgers who have a 35yo 3Bman in Turner and who just moved a young infielder..... Even though he really hasn't played 3B in the majors, I think that is likely Chavis' best position..... This scenario (Chavis or Dalbec) works according to the trade simulator.
Chavis for Joc and Stripling does make sense. I'd be worried about Joc being a FA after next year. They would need more back than just Stripling.
 

chawson

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
4,660
Thinking outside the box, and I hate to say this because how many beloved players can I stand to lose in one year: but if the Sox are in contention at the deadline but struggling with the rotation, and Dalbec seems clearly ready, what about trading Devers for a really good (i.e. #2 or better), cost-controlled starter? We have an emerging surplus at 3B and a shortage in the rotation--so far we're talking about addressing this at the bottom of the depth chart, but there's no particular reason we couldn't do it at the top instead.
The list of MLB starters worth Devers is so short (Flaherty, Buehler, ???) that it’d be unlikely a trade would make sense for both teams, and anyway Devers is the future.

On a smaller scale, I’d be curious how far off a package of Benny, Chavis and maybe Mata/Houck would be for Syndergaard.
 

nvalvo

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
21,478
Rogers Park
Thinking outside the box, and I hate to say this because how many beloved players can I stand to lose in one year: but if the Sox are in contention at the deadline but struggling with the rotation, and Dalbec seems clearly ready, what about trading Devers for a really good (i.e. #2 or better), cost-controlled starter? We have an emerging surplus at 3B and a shortage in the rotation--so far we're talking about addressing this at the bottom of the depth chart, but there's no particular reason we couldn't do it at the top instead.

Obviously you can't do this till you're sure Dalbec is ready.

Why Not Grebeck -- agree that the opener concept is scary for a team with so many durability issues already baked into the rotation. The 26th man will help with this (I assume the Sox will use the slot on the bullpen, not the bench), but it's still a concern.
That is indeed outside the box. Devers probably has about as much trade value as anyone in the game. As of Fangraphs' mid-2019 trade value ranking, they had him 14th between Lindor (13) and Judge (15), and given that Lindor is closer to FA now and Devers finished the year well, I'd imagine he's passed Lindor.

So a trade that would make sense would be something like Devers to Cleveland for Shane Bieber and a decent prospect, say, George Valera.
 

chawson

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
4,660
Isn't that kind of begging the question? I mean, sure, Devers is the future, until you trade him for Flaherty. Then presto change-o! Flaherty is the future.
Sure, and I’d consider that deal if it were real. But at that level of value a 1-for-1 trade seems too disruptive to teams’ plans, and I don’t think it makes sense to trade Devers for multiple less valuable parts.

I can’t remember the last time two cost-controlled franchise players on perennially contending teams — a/k/a two of the top 15 or so most valuable players in baseball — were traded straight up for one another.
 

Green Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2000
2,277
CT
Chris Archer might be another trade option. New GM, Ben Cherington, has indicated that the Pirates are going to build (not re-build) the program. I would be surprised if that meant Archer was a big part of their plan down the road. Archer was a 200ip horse for a few years although it has been tempered recently knee surgery and shoulder inflammation. Recent reports are that he is fully healthy. At $9M (2020) and a $11M club option in 2021, he is a bit more pricey than Stripling or some of the options above, but would still fit under the 2020 CBT if projections are correct. Would someone like Duran or Jimenez get it done?
 

bosockboy

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
19,862
St. Louis, MO
Chris Archer might be another trade option. New GM, Ben Cherington, has indicated that the Pirates are going to build (not re-build) the program. I would be surprised if that meant Archer was a big part of their plan down the road. Archer was a 200ip horse for a few years although it has been tempered recently knee surgery and shoulder inflammation. Recent reports are that he is fully healthy. At $9M (2020) and a $11M club option in 2021, he is a bit more pricey than Stripling or some of the options above, but would still fit under the 2020 CBT if projections are correct. Would someone like Duran or Jimenez get it done?
Interesting choice as Bloom would know him best and dumped him.
 

Savin Hillbilly

loves the secret sauce
SoSH Member
Jul 10, 2007
18,783
The wrong side of the bridge....
I would have to feel a lot more confident that Archer is fully healthy before it would make sense to trade Duran or Jimenez for the privilege of paying him $9M a year when we can get Taijuan Walker for probably less than that without giving up anybody. If we're going to give up prospects, I'd prefer it to be for someone like Steven Matz who has at least shown he's been able to come back fully from injury.