The Red Sox are an even 33-33 after tonight’s win over the Yankees, and they remain 3.5 games behind the Blue Jays just to reach fourth place in the hyper-competitive AL East. Barring a big surge over the next month, the Sox might decide to look ahead to 2024, and the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham notes that the club has a number of interesting trade chips if it did opt to sell. Beyond the multiple players (i.e. Justin Turner, James Paxton, Adam Duvall, Enrique Hernandez) who could be free agents this winter, Abraham writes that the Sox could offer up more controllable options like Kenley Jansen or Chris Martin, who are both under contract for the 2024 season.
Such a decision, of course, would hinge on how the Red Sox are preparing to approach 2024, since naturally a quality closer like Jansen would be expected to play a big role on a would-be contender. In Abraham’s view, Jansen could be “the big prize” of Boston’s likeliest trade chips, given his postseason track record and how many teams are in need of bullpen help. The Red Sox could also see value in selling relatively high on Jansen considering that he turns 36 in September, and that his solid 3.48 ERA is undermined by a 12.8% walk rate that is among the highest of his career. Salary could also be a factor, as Jansen is owed $16MM in 2024.
More from around the AL East…
- Red Sox manager Alex Cora gave Abraham and other reporters some updates on injured players, but the news isn’t good for either Adalberto Mondesi or Wyatt Mills. Mondesi is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in April 2022, and while he had been taking part in extended Spring Training, he doesn’t appear to be making any further progress or getting any closer to minor league games. As for Mills, the right-hander had a setback in his recovery from elbow inflammation that sidelined him during Spring Training. Both Mondesi and Mills (acquired from the Royals in separate transactions during the offseason) are on the 60-day injured list and have yet to play in 2023.
- Ryan Weber is leaning towards a PRP shot and a non-surgical rehab plan to help fix his UCL strain, the Yankees reliever told Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News. Tommy John surgery might yet be a possibility, but Weber wants to investigate his options in order to try and avoid such a long-term rehab. Weber was placed on the 15-day injured list last week and was immediately shifted to the 60-day IL, so he won’t be back until early August at the absolute earliest.
- Brandon Belt left Saturday’s game due to tightness in his left hamstring, and wasn’t part of the Blue Jays’ 7-6 win over the Twins today. Following Sunday’s game, Jays manager John Schneider told MLB.com and other media that Belt’s MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage, so Belt will remain day-to-day. Since Toronto doesn’t play on Monday, the hope is that another day off will allow Belt to return to the lineup for the start of a big series with the Orioles on Tuesday. Belt is hitting .263/.378/.434 with four home runs over 180 plate appearances in his first season with the Jays, as after a very slow start, Belt has quietly been one of baseball’s hotter hitters over the past month.
Wow!! Just what we need a writer suggesting bad moves for Bloom!!!
You grossly underestimate Bloom. He can make bad deals without anyone’s help so please stop suggesting things that will negatively impact the future Red Sox clubs after Bloom is fired.
Thank you.
As much as I (honestly) enjoy Red Sox fans get mad at what you say, KD17… it’s hard to ignore the fact you have The Bambino as your avatar.
Stein – Real Red Sox fans don’t get mad at what I say only the pretenders do.
Objective criticism only stings if you are tied in some way to the person being criticized. Fans of Bloom don’t like that I point out every mistake which means I’m on here daily. Fans of Cora hate that I point out every mistake because he makes so many daily. Fans of Devers hate that I point out what’s been obvious to any fan since Devers arrived in the majors, he can’t play defense.
If you enjoy the anger by the pretender fans that makes sense as a Yankee fan. You probably get mad at me when I point out how lame Cashman and Boone are. It’s a fact but most Yankee fans love them despite their lack of success. You also probably noticed that I’m not biased because I frequently compliment your best player Judge since he’s outstanding. We had a guy like that until Bloom showed up, now he’s outstanding in LA. We have another one in SD and a third in Texas. As Yankee fans you at least get continuity from your good players. Maybe a bit too much loyalty to players like Stanton, Damon and others who weren’t good in pinstripes.
Good luck this year, your team needs Judge because without him you guys are very comparable to the cellar dwelling Bloom team.
Yankee fan here.
Cashman is lame. Wastes money like a drunken fan. Since 2018 nothing but regression.
KD – Awesome post as always!
You’re right, real Sox fans instead get mad when their team is torpedoed by bad management into a perennial loser.
KD – I think the best approach is blow the team up and consider offers on anyone except the young controllable pitching.
The team isn’t good enough to win it in ’23. Many of the parts will be FA at year’s end, or have options they will decline if they have any worth. If a player is picking up that option, they aren’t good enough to be worth having back.
If you don’t trust bloom to make the good trades, then you kick him out. Maybe you just require sign-off and oversight on any return, and, ask internally for opinions from some you trust more.
Load up on young talent or upside pieces, then you can use the mass of them bundled with existing prospects to trade for better pieces in the offseason, and/or sign free agents, or just keep and play them. Either way 2024 becomes a better squad instantly.
Don’t even try to shed the salary either. Throw in all the cash, get the maximum return.
Totally agree.. Blow it up the right way, not half stepping like they did last year.
If Paxton keeps pitching this way, he could get a relative haul. Duvall and Turner could get you mid-level prospects, Jansen and Martin both have a year left, but both bring prospects. Blow it up.
GA – I agree but I consider any other destruction of the line up as a continuation of the Blow Up that Bloom has done.
Keep the young pitchers and trade anything else including Devers. Then let the new guy build a roster with close to $230MM available and watch how fast the last place Red Sox will go back to being competitive with a new GM and Manager. We need to remove the cheating stigma that Cora carries.
I agree with Mark’s comment in the Chat…..
Doubt that Mr. Bloom will be back in 2024.
What’s needed to save him is at least a half-dozen quality prospects coming up from the farm system to play on the big league club in 2024. Don’t see that as being realistic.
Having Enrique Hernandez as the primary SS in 2023 is pretty much what did it for me. He’s a utility guy that can play the position in an emergency for 3-5 days….but not well. Among other options they could have picked up Kevin Newman that can play a ML SS and is hitting .270, or even Andrew Velazquez who can’t hit .200 but would have saved their pitchers some of the the grief they’ve had in 2023.
It’s a stretch to say that the Sox pitching is on a verge of breaking out, or that they have a number of gamers on the team leading it. What the Red Sox have is reminiscent of the late 1950’s, where thanks to the dimensions of Fenway Park they have 3-4 guys that can hit, and get into a number of 16-12 type games which are exciting, even though they don’t win the majority of them.
This isn’t a terrible team. But it’s not a good one. They got their payroll down to 13th highest in MLB – and maybe that’s what ownership wanted.
Why would Bloom spend on a SS when you have Trevor Story? What you got is a bridge until he’s healthy. He shouldn’t waste money on that. Mondesi and Story will make the middle of the infield whole again. Duvall at DH is where he belongs. The outfield is in a good spot. The back end of the bullpen is very solid with Jansen and Martin. Triston Casas needs to work on making contact. The biggest weakness is the starting pitching though but I think they can fix that in the off-season. This team is closer than most realize….
Coming from a Royals fan, anticipating Mondesi being healthy for any stretch of games is a fools chore.
Maybe because Story is best at 2B and got injured trying to prepare for a sudden move to SS after Bloom blew the negotiations with Bogaerts ♂️
TradeRumors- Story has this injury last year as well. He was seen before games with a band around his arm stretching his elbow and was in the trainers room before every game. They hoped with rest it would get better but the rest made it worse
“Why would Bloom spend on a SS when you have Trevor Story? ”
kingbum;
They could have brought in Newman, Velazquez or a few other quality fielding SS’s at minimal cost for 2023.
“The biggest weakness is the starting pitching …..”.
kingbum;
This is the tip-off…..
Bloom was primarily brought in to make the Sox a strong pitching team – especially with starting pitchers. Supposedly he was a major force in the Rays finding and developing starting pitching.
Nathan Eovaldi spent years with the Sox, including under Bloom’s administration. He did well. I understand he was hurt some in 2022. Going to the Rangers and working with Mike Maddox he’s a prime candidate for the Cy Young this year. Not sure there’s a better starting pitcher in the AL.
Mr. Bloom was brought in to build an organization – not a roster. In today’s MLB strong organizations make the both position players and pitchers they have under contract better – the Braves, Rays, Astros, Dodgers, and now the Orioles. These are teams that are in sustainable contention for years because of the roles they want players to fill on their teams, and how they work with the individual players to grow them into those roles…..and at times ask them to take on more responsibilities. The Red Sox have not developed anything remotely that looks like a team. They’re just a collection of players – some having good years, some not. There’s no identity there. The coaching staff has not had much success bringing players along.
Samuel: McClanahan is probably the best SP in the AL.
Bloom will be back. He might not be doing what you want him to do, but he appears to be doing what Henry wants. And that’s all that matters. Plus he won’t even be on the hot seat until he first fires Cora in a desperation move.
Samuel – I usually agree with you…
Story was the first choice….elbow injury.
Mondesi was second choice….knee injury has taken way longer than anticipated.
Chang was third choice….hit by pitch-broken hand.
Hernandez is the fourth choice.
Are you happy about your 4th choice on anything? Steak, chicken, spaghetti, grilled cheese…..
This year was like 2021. If you make the playoffs great, but that is not what this year was going to be about. This year was to make the starting rotation younger and homegrown, affordable, and with lots of team control.
Whitlock (Rule 5 – age 27)
Bello (homegrown – age 24)
Houck (homegrown – age 26)
Crawford (homegrown – age 27)
The contract signed in the offseason were perfect for flipping at the deadline: Duvall, Turner, Hernandez, Jansen, Paxton, and maybe Martin. The front office is aware of Bloom’s plan.
Pivetta will get a tryout as closer for 2024 with a host of bullpen arms that look like they could come together as a unit even if Jansen is traded. Playoffs this year would have been nice if everyone was health, but it was not a ‘must’ in ‘the plan’.
Duval, Hernandez, Jansen? Why trade players with such high value to their team? I still don’t get it.
Jansen is old it’s better to get rid of him a year or two early than late. Duvall is limited in the OF and ideally Devers is the best DH candidate on the roster. I have no idea why you’d trade Hernandez he can play all the positions on the field. Duvall is really insurance for if Casas doesn’t develop like we think he Will.
I mean I like a good grilled cheese.
The Red Sox seem to be building a contender through the farm system. They are not trading prospects to fill needs which hurts chances to contend. They are instead signing players to 1-2 year deals who will not clog the roster when the prospects are ready. That approach is working for the Orioles much better than the Yankees approach.
Allin – you are 100% correct. The Red Sox have hung in to all of their top prospects that they see contributing while not blocking the way for promotions. There was zero chance the Red Sox honestly wanted Bogaerts! His wrist injury has zapped his power last year and this, he is 30, and he has never been a good defensive SS. Mayer is due to arrive late 2024. Whitlock, Bello, Houck, and Crawford were capable of becoming good MLB starters, but not necessarily from day one at the beginning of this season. Young pitchers can take a year or two to perform where they need to be to make the playoffs.
This year will show the Red Sox where they need to supplement for a title run in 2024.
This pains me to say as I am way, way, way over the age of 30, but to build a sustainable winner in the MLB it takes age discrimination! Lol. It take a young, homegrown, cheap, controllable core of players to win consistently which takes time to build. Yay is the patient Red Sox fan that wants to see 30 starts from Whitlock, Bello, Houck, and Crawford in hopes of the team moving to an even higher level of expectation in 2024.
Eovaldi would have been nice, but he has only pitched over 111 innings once in the last 5 years. Been there, done that, don’t care to repeat it…..
It’s funny, the last time I looked at Belt’s stats they were awful and thought he was done. Then a few days ago I checked on him again and he was en fuego. I love Belt and I’m glad he’s back to being himself. He will start hitting more home runs soon enough.
He usually has a stretch of good hitting, then injuries and bad streaks. He barely eclipses 300 at bats a year.
Yeah, I’ve been tempted to claim him for my fantasy team, but with those knees his season could be over in the wink of an eye. Watched enough of him in SF to confirm what you’re saying, Doom. When he gets hot, he gets hurt, and when he comes back the whole cycle starts over again.
Red Sox are a .500 team. Plain and simple. We lose games against good and bad teams and we win games against good and bad teams.
Mondesi was literally a waste of Josh Taylor
Wasn’t a fan of the move either. Mondesi makes Sale look durable… but Josh Taylor currently has an ERA/FIP of 8.15 and 4.8 respectively, so there’s that.
Taylor for Mondesi = Benintendi for Cordero.
Bloom makes deals like he’s in a fantasy league. They have no bearing on improvement or winning. He just trades. And he’s awful at it. I just pity the next fool who hires him.
Milt – The biggest concern is Bloom’s tendency to acquire often-injured players. Expecting them to suddenly become durable is pure ignorance, and acquiring players who are already injured or recovering from an injury (Paxton, Mondesi, Story, Schwarber, etc) is beyond foolish as he always miscalculates the timeline.
Bloom will go down as one of the worst FO leaders in Sox history. And no, signing high draft picks because of last place finishes doesn’t help his legacy.
I mean, they got Winckowski in that trade, a good pitcher who is under team control for years. Not defending Bloom in general, but saying the trade was just for Cordero is disingenuous.
Might as well say he got Verdugo and Wong for Price.
Winckowski hasn’t helped?
You need a combination of farm player and free agents. The Red Sox had Betts, Bogaerts, Devers, Benintendi, Velazquez. These players were good. You then pick up players in trades and sign free agents. Bloom blew the whole thing up to sell the ownership on cheaper minor league players where they take time to develop and give him job security at the same time. The Benintendi trade was awful, Betts not great, and not signing Bogaerts was another blunder. I do not think he gets another year after a last place finish again this year. This team is 14.5 games out of first place in deadlast in the division. The media and fans are not going to tolerate this . I do not see this team being that good in 2024 either. You need to hire a new GM so he can evaluate the talent in the organization and then sign some good free agents and build some continuity to this team which does not have any now.
miltpappas
Taylor for Mondesi = Benintendi for Cordero.
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LOL! You are criticizing a trade when you don’t even know the players involved.
FWIW, we received several other players, including Winckowski, who is carrying a 2.19 ERA, with 5 years of control left.
Taylor is not pitching well for KC. He has a 8.15 ERA, 4.80 FIP and 7 ERs in his last 4 IP.
Suit – As always, you should judge trades based on the value the departing players had at the time.
Fever: What value do you think Josh Taylor had at the time of the trade? His velocity was down in rehab appearances and he was having trouble getting people out, pitching to a 6.00 ERA. I think he had little value. He was worth a gamble like Mondesi was in my opinion.
masslive.com/redsox/2022/07/boston-red-sox-pull-re…
The fact that the Red Sox got ANYTHING for Josh Taylor was shocking! He was about to be DFA when he was traded.
Taylor’s ERA is 8.15. I’d rather have Mondesi on the IL than an 8.15 in the BP.
I don’t see Boston selling off parts, but it sure is nice to see articles speculating on one of the big markets doing so. Usually they speculate only on the small markets being feeder franchises, sometimes regardless of where they are in the standings. So will we now be treated to trade articles for every .500 team?
I think the sox will stand pat at the deadline ..ownership wont let bloom sell the future nor dump the likes of jansen or martin since they want to win in 2024..but do think bloom is fired by end of season..if not sooner..the rest of those trade pieces arent worth much.
I find it hard to believe that Boston will be buyers with even most sports writers believing that Bloom is a short timer. Henry must know that if they try to repeat last season’s abortion of a trade deadline, he will find himself facing Sox fans waving torches and pitch forks at him.
I expect to see a sell off. I will be surprised if anything else happens.
Just my humble opinion
Bloom is doing what the owners want him to do, field a somewhat competitive team while cutting salary over a period of years. I doubt he gets fired for doing what they want..
Sinister Joe is correct in my opinion. Bloom is taking good care of John Henry’s money. Building a contender through the farm system, avoiding crazy expensive contracts. The Yankees have not avoided signing older players to expensive contracts and now they have a $290M player payroll with most of the expensive guys hurt and starting the likes of Willie Calhoun, McKinney, Bauers, Vazquez. I am happy Bloom is building through the farm system. Look at the Orioles now. The teams with the two best farm systems are leading the AM East.
*AL East
Boston needs to give Bloom 2 more seasons.
Xander wanted the big money contract & the Red Sox had very little in the pipeline upon Bloom’s hiring. You can over spend like the Padres or Mets but so far their records are worse than the Red Sox. You have to build up your pipeline & at the same time you reset your luxury tax. Patience is what you need right now (this from a Rays fan).
fljay73
Boston needs to give Bloom 2 more seasons.
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Fangraphs has a nice write-up on our farm today. If that was the focus of his hire, then they should stay the course.
Two more years of last places finishes please God no! It is June and they are 14.5 games out of first place and have to climb over 4 teams in the wildcard race.This team did not give you a run for the money this year. He signs cheap dumpster contracts. The one time he signed a big name, Story was damaged goods before he got here. That was and has been a disastrous signing. No way the media and fans will be happy with two more years of Bloom. At least Dave Dombroski produced a World Series win. I do not see that with Bloom.
I don’t see Jansen as the premier closer he once was. I can’t see a playoff bound team finding much value in him. Playoff bound teams are heading to the postseason because they already have bullpen pieces better than him.
Not – Relievers are always the hottest commodity at trade deadlines.
The Yankees should trade Error in Judgement for Hernandez at the deadline, but only if they’re a lock for the postseason. They both have 13 home runs in almost the same plate appearances, similar RBI’s, but Judge’s OPS is over 100 points lower. Might be just the ticket to a championship for the poor starving franchise in New York.
Weber should opt for TJS to lock in 18-months of MLB salary and additional service time.
Jansen for the best available arm or SS.
Do not trade Martin.
Kike or Arroyo should be moved if there’s interest out there.
Casas to Woo’s bring up Dalbec for a little competitive balance.
The Red Sox simply don’t matter anymore. They are. A blah team that has zero appeal.
Yeah, because all Red Sox fans stop watching when they aren’t good.
What matters is me chilling out with some gummies watching the game.
Came- Nestor Cortes recently said the same thing about the Sox.
/Cashman walks in training room, sees Weber
“Why is he here beyond his usual 24 hour stay?”
Oh you didn’t hear? He’s going to be collecting league minimum for the remainder of the year while on the IL
“Damnit!”
Trade all the one- or two-year players. Martin & Jansen have done okay, but less than AS’s. They can be replaced next year.
But whatever you do, chip in as much salary as it takes to secure a reasonable return.
You all crack me up….. The only way Bloom is let go is if Henry sells the team. Personally, I would love to see Cora gone, but that is not going to happen either..
Cooper- Wanna bet? Henry cares more about the botton line than anything else.
Jansen and Martin have negative value at this point. Nobody is looking to pick a 16M closer or an 8M setup man. If they want to get a good return they should sell high on Duran. Some team will buy into his hot start despite the inflated BABIP.
They definitely do not have “negative value” Especially Martin. Teams will be lining up to trade for him.
They don’t want to get rid of Duran, because he is under team control.. You’re missing the point.
If they can get anything for Duran before he turns back into a pumpkin then they should jump at the offer. Most likely scenario is that he reverts back to the same player he has been his whole career.
mullig2 = Timing is the key not the cost of the players. NEED defines the market so if TB loses it’s closer and is sitting in the cat bird’s seat, they would pay for Jansen to close for them. They have NEVER won so his value is greater to them than most.
Kiki Hernandez made his 14th error and is hitting .229. Why is he playing?
He’s the highly paid shiny toy. Besides, the real answer was a piss poor offseason where bloom wasn’t focused on SS when he could’ve.
Even late in the offseason, when we knew there was nothing left available at a palatable price in the trade market, andrus was hanging around. He’s stunk with the bat, but, only 1 error at SS. Much better insurance policy that would’ve been $3m or so that CWS paid?
Subtract Kiki’s other 13 errors difference, and, how would the record be impacted to this point?
GA – So without Kiki the Red Sox win a few more games but aren’t contenders for anything. TRUE. You are right he’s not the primary problem, Bloom is.
But, and I have to ask, if we go to the ROOT of the problem, isn’t it Henry’s advanced age?
I think he’s trying to shape more of a legacy of some sort – such as the FSG charge into most major sports.
But, he’s also still sore about losing out in the ‘moneyball era’ when he couldn’t lure Billy Beane over to the team. The reason Bloom is even in town starts and ends there.
Henry did good things for the franchise in the past. But, once it stopped being ‘the red sox’ and became a ‘cash generator for FSG’ the team lost its way.
GASox – As bad as Kiké has been, a real first baseman would have caught many of his bad throws.
BTW – Wong’s throw last Monday on Tampa’s little league homerun has to be one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Cora’s teams are severely lacking in fundamentals.
Does this emit any confidence in Bloom’s decision making?
Kd17 I ask the same question about kiki. Then agin he is Cora’s so called nephew .
Dog – It’s a classic case of emotions and personal relationships getting in the way of making the right decisions. This is why fans sometimes would make better decisions than managers, when the manager is too close to the player.
But right now, with there being nobody dependable to play 2B or SS, and only Ref as a backup OF’er, Kiké isn’t going anywhere.