I was responding to the idea that Bloom hasnt (or cant due to Boston fans) been able to make trades similar to Meadows/Paredes. The fact that he traded two outfielders that are pretty comparable and hasnt come up with much seems like a pretty compelling fact to bring up.
I dont disagree that there are other areas; I was responding to the prompt. I think most of us would love if Renfroe or Benintendi was traded for something similar to Paredes. They werent.
That's because Meadows was (prior to the trade) a 3.9, 0.3 (in 2020), and 1.9 bWAR player, 27 years old, who had 3 full years left before he became a FA. Good control, moderate potential for improvement.
Renfroe was a 2.4, 0 (2020), 2.4 bWAR player, 30 years old, who had 2 years of control, limited to corner OF. He is what he is, most likely. (Also, you don't want to say the guy's a clubhouse cancer or anything, but it's remarkable Tampa, Boston, and Milwaukee all moved on from him after a year. Maybe that's just a contractual concern though.)
Benintendi was a 4.8, 1.8, .01 (2020) bWAR player, 26 years old who had two years of control. He was trending in the wrong direction by every metric under the sun, but the value was in the possibility of a rebound, partially because of his age. Still don't think he's equal to Meadows though - he was put on the shelf in August of 2020 after looking completely clueless in 14 games. .442 OPS.
These are not at all equal trade chits. By any stretch of the imagination.
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Meadows netted Paredes, who while young and with a lot of control remaining, had only had two lackluster campaigns with Detroit. He turned into a 2 bWAR player last year for Tampa in a fairly streaky season. Jury's still out, but this has a chance to be a solid trade for Tampa.
Renfroe netted Binelas and Hamilton. Two prospects: bat tool, speed tool. Binelas stalled in AA, and Hamilton is currently lighting it up at AAA. Frankly, that seems to be a wash for the Paredes trade, even with JBJ's salary stapled to the prospects. You can make a case that playing JBJ and going over the threshold last year was a mistake, but Bloom got decent prospects back, each with a chance to make a ML impact.
Benintendi was sell-low, for sure, but brought back Cordero, Winckowski, and three scratch tickets. Frankly, that's a fantastic trade. A project for a project, with a highly regarded pitching prospect thrown in, probably due to Benni's residual aura.