RGREELEY33 said:
He has obviously struggled acclimating to a new league and new team, but I would imagine the Sox FO don't think he has forgotten how to play. Again though, why sell at an absolute low where they would most likely have to eat a significant amount of salary, and who the hell would want him without a huge financial subsidy?
Most of this team has sucked and underperformed, and while it is fun to think about dumping everyone and getting a brand new team, it just isn't realistic to think they can dump Sandoval and Porcello etc. at the trade dealine.
What in the world makes you think this is the "absolute low" value of Sandoval? His contract goes up as he gets older and fatter, to the point where he might well be unable to even cover third base at all soon. A sub-700 OPS fat first baseman with a huge contract is worth less than even a sub-700 OPS third baseman with a huge contract.
Sandoval's contract was similar to Crawford's in that both were mistakes from day one with red flags all around, and immediately got even worse as soon as they started playing for the Red Sox.
But let's say you're right, that Sandoval is at his absolute low right now and will rebound and is just struggling with adjusting to a new team-- if that has any chance of being true, then why wouldn't any other teams think that way? If any of them do, then it is most certainly not "fantasy" to think that the Red Sox could escape the fat albatross.
The main point is that, as I said in my original post, even though I think it'd be almost impossible to move Sandoval and Porcello today, I much would rather they spend their time pursuing those unlikely avenues, even if nothing happens, than trade valuable young players for even more players that Baird has evaluated.
A big trade to bring in players that Baird has picked out could damage us even more in the future. This is not the time to be doubling down on this front office evaluating players.
Not making a trade at all is better than making a bad trade.