Potential Trade Deadline Targets

Green Monster

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I could see the MFYs acquiring Osuna (not that they have any pressing need for another bullpen arm). NY didn't hesitate to trade for Chapman when the Sox and other teams away from him as a result of his domestic incident(s).
Not sure of the specifics in any of these cases, but the Sox did not shy away from Steven Wright or Steve Lyons who had similar charges against them..........Osuna is an interesting dilemma, one would think he could be obtained cheaply, but would the possible fallout be worth it?
 

jon abbey

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NY is not trading for Osuna. They traded for Britton because he was a lefty and the only one of those they had ahead of Chapman at closer was Shreve, but they have plenty of quality righties, in the majors and stuck in AAA.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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I could see the MFYs acquiring Osuna (not that they have any pressing need for another bullpen arm). NY didn't hesitate to trade for Chapman when the Sox and other teams away from him as a result of his domestic incident(s).
The Chapman playbook:
1.) Send the Jays a bag of balls for Osuna
2.) Rehabilitate his image enough, while he pitches super-well for you
3.) Trade him in the off-season for great prospects
4.) [OPTIONAL] In a couple years, when he reenters free agency, reacquire him
 

Otis Foster

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I could see the MFYs acquiring Osuna (not that they have any pressing need for another bullpen arm). NY didn't hesitate to trade for Chapman when the Sox and other teams away from him as a result of his domestic incident(s).
I'm agnostic on the RS trading for Osuna, but the howls from the Globe staff alone would be worth the price of admission. More on point, I believe he has yet to be tried, and depending on the final outcome of the trial and other factors he may face further MLB discipline. There are on-going settlement discussions with Osuna's counsel making hopeful sounds.
 

JimD

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Is Beltre's defense still top-tier?

If the Sox are already over the luxury tax threshold, I say go all in on him - his bat would allow them to carry an 'all glove, no bat' defender at 2B. Plus, purely as a fan, I'd love to root for him again and see him play a part in what could be a very special year for the Sox.
 

Hank Scorpio

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The other part of the equation is whose slot would Beltre take, assuming Devers is going to take Lin's spot.

Leon and Swihart are both on the roster until Vazquez comes back, which will be another crunch if rosters haven't expanded by then.
Moreland, Pearce, Holt, X, Mookie, JBJ, Benny, and JDM aren't going anywhere.

That leaves Nunez, but getting rid of him would leave us without anyone who could give X or Brock an off day. Swihart/Pearce at 2B, with Brock at SS if X needs a day? Seems sub-optimal. I love Beltre, but I think we already got our version of him with Pearce.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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The other part of the equation is whose slot would Beltre take, assuming Devers is going to take Lin's spot.

Leon and Swihart are both on the roster until Vazquez comes back, which will be another crunch if rosters haven't expanded by then.
Moreland, Pearce, Holt, X, Mookie, JBJ, Benny, and JDM aren't going anywhere.

That leaves Nunez, but getting rid of him would leave us without anyone who could give X or Brock an off day. Swihart/Pearce at 2B, with Brock at SS if X needs a day? Seems sub-optimal. I love Beltre, but I think we already got our version of him with Pearce.
I doubt that Vazquez will be back before rosters expand on September 1 (he went on the DL July 8 and the prognosis was 6-8 weeks), so I don't foresee a crunch if they were to add another position player, be it Beltre or someone else. Assuming Devers is back in Lin's spot, they're carrying an extra reliever at the moment (3-man bench) so presumably an acquisition like Beltre would replace one of the pitchers.

But if Devers is back, I don't see the point of acquiring someone like Beltre. Picking him up would be something to do if Devers was going to be out for a month or more, not if he's only going to be out a few more days.
 

ehaz

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But if Devers is back, I don't see the point of acquiring someone like Beltre. Picking him up would be something to do if Devers was going to be out for a month or more, not if he's only going to be out a few more days.
Why? Beltre is better offensively and defensively than Devers. You have an opportunity to get a serious upgrade with barely any acquisition cost. The thought of Devers airmailing a throw in an elimination game worries me.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Why? Beltre is better offensively and defensively than Devers. You have an opportunity to get a serious upgrade with barely any acquisition cost. The thought of Devers airmailing a throw in an elimination game worries me.
Only a little better on offense this year--especially if you factor in Devers' baserunning advantage--and how much better on defense depends on which metric you trust. "Serious upgrade" is almost certainly an exaggeration.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Why? Beltre is better offensively and defensively than Devers. You have an opportunity to get a serious upgrade with barely any acquisition cost. The thought of Devers airmailing a throw in an elimination game worries me.
Barely any acquisition cost is a big assumption. As is the notion that the Sox are already over the luxury tax and can and will keep spending.

Besides which, Beltre hasn't exactly been the model of health this year, so the question then becomes how frequently can he play and does that mean they have to keep Devers to platoon with him? Since the All Star break, the Rangers have played 10 games and Beltre has been at 3B for five, DH for three, and sat out two. He's started 48 of 73 games at 3B overall this year (DH for 21, pinch hit four times). Looks like a platoon player to me.

I'll grant that Beltre is a better defender, but Beltre has lost a step so there's not as huge a gulf between them as if Beltre were still in his prime. At the plate, Beltre has a .747 OPS compared to Devers .721. Beltre is a bit heavy on OBP, Devers has him on slugging. I'm not convinced there's a significant upgrade at the plate here.
 

chawson

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Landing spots for Beltre include PHI, ATL and BOS. Landing spots for Dozier include BOS and maybe LAD.

I love Beltre, but I think I prefer Dozier here for a lot of reasons.
 

Adrian's Dome

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I'd love to have the Beltre from our past back, but that guy isn't walking through that door. Easy pass.

Dozier I'd take on.
 

Byrdbrain

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More likely of those choices? RP.

Most likely overall? Nothing happens before tomorrow's deadline.
I mostly agree, I think it is likely they will add an arm but I wouldn't be surprised if they do nothing.
I assume the arm they add will barely move the needle.

I'd very surprised if they do anything other than that.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I mostly agree, I think it is likely they will add an arm but I wouldn't be surprised if they do nothing.
I assume the arm they add will barely move the needle.

I'd very surprised if they do anything other than that.
There's also the chance that they do add a bullpen arm, but not until after the deadline.
 

chawson

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If we’re truly over then it’d be silly not to bring in a league average guy like Valencia at minimum. I thought Pearce would be that guy but I don’t think the Sox want to try him at third, let alone second. Regardless, there are too many question marks at those positions not to address even if we can’t score anyone in the Dozier/Beltre/Merrifield/Murphy/Gennett/Kinsler/Donaldson tier.
 

Pozo the Clown

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Most likely overall? Nothing happens before tomorrow's deadline.
I'd be stunned if DD doesn't make at least one move before 4pm tomorrow. The 4 games against the Yankees starting Thurs night provide further incentive to make the improvements ASAP. I believe it's no coincidence that Pearce was added right before the last series against NYY. I expect more of the same.
 

keninten

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If the Sox are very close to the luxury tax could it have any effect on how many players they add after September 1st? Most will probably be minimum wage players, maybe only costing around $100,000 each.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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If the Sox are very close to the luxury tax could it have any effect on how many players they add after September 1st? Most will probably be minimum wage players, maybe only costing around $100,000 each.
It's very unlikely that if they are going over the cap, it will be by such a small margin that leaving Marcus Walden or Ty Buttrey off the September call-ups might save the day.

Those call-up salaries are already budgeted into their figures anyway. If they think they're just under the limit, expanding the roster in September won't change that.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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Seattle got Duke for almost nothing. Would have been a decent option here.
 

MikeM

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I thought the point of the Eovaldi trade was he was the best talent-to-dollar ratio, allowing us to stay under while upgrading the back-end rotation spot.
That was one way of looking at it. The other being that he was simply the best upside guy DD was realistically going to make a winning bid on to begin with, and who just happened to have a salary that may or may not pushed us over the cap.

Either way it was still a good and needed trade imo.
 

MikeM

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FWIW, Cot's estimates show the team is still just under the cap.
On that note, I believe the overall Cots estimate had us roughly 600k under only a few days before Eovaldi was acquired. Checking back in afterwards had us back up to $1.4m+ under.

Same general jump happened after acquiring Pearce as well. I had a hard time trying to follow the why math in any of that.
 

ehaz

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I'll grant that Beltre is a better defender, but Beltre has lost a step so there's not as huge a gulf between them as if Beltre were still in his prime. At the plate, Beltre has a .747 OPS compared to Devers .721. Beltre is a bit heavy on OBP, Devers has him on slugging. I'm not convinced there's a significant upgrade at the plate here.
1.2 WAR in 73 games for Beltre vs -0.1 WAR for Devers. At the plate, Devers has a .597 OPS against lefties. Besides the defense, Devers will be exposed in the playoffs where he's likely to face a lefty in just about any high leverage situation. I love Raffy for the future, but he is the kind of player that can be game planned out of an entire series.

Beltre is a hall of famer and would likely sign a one-day contract to retire with Texas before retirement. If he wants a chance at a ring, the Rangers are going to do him a favor. I'm sure they wouldn't just pay for Beltre to play in Boston for a few months, but if the FO can live with the lux tax implications, I don't see a good reason not to bring him in.
 

chawson

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FWIW, Dozier vs. current MFY rotation (career):

vs. Happ: 6 for 15, 3 HRs, 2 BB, 1.471 OPS
vs. Severino: 2 for 3, HR, BB, 3.500 OPS
vs. Gray: 4 for 13, 2 HRs, 4 BB, 1 K, 1.240 OPS
vs. Tanaka: 6 for 16, 1 double, 1 BB, 3 K, .849 OPS
vs. Sabathia: 4 for 18, 1 double, 5 BB, 1 K, .669 OPS
 
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Tyrone Biggums

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Per Mark Feinsend, Washington is putting Bryce Harper on the table. He was working out at 1st base recently so realistically he'd be open to more teams not just teams that need an OF.
I’d check in on Herrera. If they’re listening on Harper then might as well call them on a FA to be pen arm.