The Red Sox and Pirates announced a one-for-one dealing sending right-hander Quinn Priester to Boston and second base prospect Nick Yorke to Pittsburgh. Boston already has a vacancy on their 40-man roster and optioned Priester to Triple-A Worcester. Pittsburgh assigned Yorke to their top affiliate in Indianapolis.
Priester, 23, has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons. He has started 16 of 20 appearances, struggling to a 6.46 ERA across 94 2/3 innings. His 15.4% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk percentage are each on the wrong side of league average, the strikeouts especially so. Preister has kept the ball on the ground at a robust 53.9% clip but seen an inordinate amount of the fly balls against him clear the fence. He’s allowing more than 1.8 home runs per nine innings.
While he hasn’t had the most auspicious start to his major league career, Priester isn’t far removed from being one of the top pitching prospects in the sport. The Bucs selected him 18th overall out of high school in the 2019 draft. By the 2020-21 offseason, he’d cracked most Top 100 prospect lists. Evaluators had particular praise for Priester’s curveball during his time in the minors, but he’s had a fairly balanced five-pitch mix (sinker, slider, four-seam, curveball, changeup) in the majors.
Some scouting reports had questions about the quality of Priester’s fastball — specifically whether he had enough movement to miss bats. His sinker and four-seam each sit around 93 MPH and have been hit hard by major league hitters. He’s had far more success in the minors, though. Priester owns a 3.81 ERA over parts of three Triple-A campaigns. That includes a 3.21 mark with 36 strikeouts and just seven walks over 33 2/3 innings this year.
Boston’s player development staff will try to help Priester translate his intriguing raw stuff and minor league production into better MLB results. They’ll have plenty of time to do so. The 6’3″ hurler is in his second of three option years. He has around 133 days of major league service. It’s possible he crosses the 172-day threshold to reach a full service year in 2024, but he’d still be under control for five seasons beyond this one. If the Sox send him down to Triple-A Worcester at any point, that could push his free agent timeline back and give Boston six full years of control.
Priester will begin his Sox tenure in the minors. Boston has Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and recent trade pickup James Paxton in their rotation. The Paxton acquisition nudged sixth starter Cooper Criswell back to relief. Priester probably slots seventh on the depth chart and can move up and down off the MLB roster as needed.
Pittsburgh has a fair bit of rotation depth themselves. Paul Skenes and Jared Jones had clearly surpassed Priester on the organizational hierarchy. Mitch Keller fits comfortably as their #3 arm. Luis Ortiz, Marco Gonzales and Martín Pérez are rounding out the starting five while Jones is shelved by a lat strain. The Bucs could soon welcome Bailey Falter back from the IL and bump Pérez from the rotation. As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald explored in a post for Front Office subscribers a couple weeks ago, that enabled them to trade a starter for a controllable bat.
Yorke is on the doorstep of the majors. Boston’s first-round pick out of high school in the 2020 draft, he’s having a strong season in the high minors. Yorke hit .251/.325/.366 over 45 Double-A contests and has been particularly impressive since a promotion to Triple-A. Over 38 games for the Sox’s affiliate in Worcester, he turned in a .310/.408/.490 slash with six homers and nearly as many walks (14.2%) as strikeouts (18.9%).
The 22-year-old Yorke has played mostly second base in his professional career. He has a bit of experience in left field as well. The Bucs are presumably planning to use him at the former position. Pittsburgh hasn’t gotten much out of second base all season. Nick Gonzales, whom Pittsburgh took 10 picks ahead of Yorke in the 2020 draft, faded offensively after a hot start. He went on the injured list yesterday with a groin strain that’ll cost him at least a few weeks. That had seemed to push Jared Triolo or Alika Williams into short-term action.
Yorke, despite having no MLB experience, might already be a better hitter than either Triolo or Williams. He’ won’t directly join the MLB roster but could be up before too long. They’ll need to put him on their 40-man roster by next offseason at the latest to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Yorke 13th among Red Sox prospects earlier this month. Baseball America had him 14th in the system on their most recent update. Both outlets praise his hitting feel but write that he doesn’t have great athleticism or defensive chops. He has a chance to be a bat-first regular at the keystone who could make an impact down the stretch. While Yorke isn’t generally viewed as having the highest upside, there’d be ample value in a near-MLB regular whom the Bucs control for the next six-plus seasons.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Red Sox and Pirates were finalizing a trade swapping Yorke for Priester. Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
And Pirates fans thought their team wouldn’t make any moves.
Dot – This could be Freddy Sanchez all over again.
Not impressed with Priester.
Why do the Sox always trade for pitchers with sky-high ERA’s???
Four acquisitions so far and NONE of them have been playing well this year … HOW is that supposed to help them win now?
It’s not a win-now trade, it seems. Safe to assume this is a guy Breslow believes can be developed, and he maybe also sees this as the sell-high window for Yorke (the sell-high time is not something pre-Breslow Boston ever had much feel for identifying).
I would hope that Priester is ticketed for AAA with a very specific developmental plan in mind, while the front office keeps a finger close to the “call up” button if/when a fill-in start is needed.
Yorke and Priester have a lot in common, once high picks but now seen as more marginal prospects. Hope this helps both of them succeed!
soxu – I have no problem with trading Yorke, but since they have said they refuse to trade anyone among their Top Ten it would have been nice if they put their #14 (Yorke) in a package for someone better than a lottery ticket who doesn’t project to be much more than a #5 starter or middle relief guy.
Now they have one less asset to use on improving this year’s team.
Yes, this move is about 2025-2030 rather than 2024.
They still have more trade chips to move. If Yorke was the key player in a deal they wanted to do, they wouldn’t have moved him in this one.
I’d call him a “project” rather than a “lottery ticket”, though. He is basically major league ready as a back-end starter, just needs to figure out how to pitch at this level.
They likely shopped him in packages but prices are high. So they moved him for the best move they could so they don’t lose him for nothing in the spring.
tff – According to the Red Sox website, Yorke was ranked 6th.
So who do you think would be available now to trade?
Is there any chance of acquiring an impact player to help now, without trading someone off the MLB roster?
TF – What’s the deal with the Rangers? Are they still trying to win? Will deGrom and Scherzer be back soon?
Red Sox have 6 games coming up with them, so the Rangers will definitely be a factor in the Red Sox playoff drive!
@FPG, I agree with TF that Yorke is more “pretender” than “prospect”. He might be better than Westbrook, but that doesn’t make him a meaningful long-term option. Grissom will get another shot at the job, but Campbell isn’t as far behind him as you might think, and has high-grade potential.
I’m less certain that I see upside in Priester? I’ve never seen him pitch, but reviewing his history, past rankings, and his game logs this year, I’m thinking he has a decent chance of being a back-end starter next year? That’s useful, for sure, especially since he has one more option remaining after this year and thus can begin the season as “minor league depth”. Guess he would slot as the #6 or #7 at the beginning of the season, and of course teams typically go through at least that many different starters over the course of the year. Between Giolito and Whitlock, we were down to our #7 starter by the end of May.
Valdez is an obvious trade chip, and has been mentioned a couple times. Sadly nobody biting yet. I would also dangle Lugo and Jordan, as I don’t see either becoming a plus ML player. Mata, if anybody wants him. Wikelman Gonzalez in the right deal (he has talent but is getting to the age and level that he ought to be mastering control better than he is).
Kinda doubting that there is an impact trade on the table for the Red Sox. I’m sure they could get a hot reliever if they were to offer one of their top 6-7 prospects, but the problems run deeper than a single arm, and I would hate to reprise the Bagwell for Andersen swap.
this is a terrible trade. I said in another post that the Sox should’ve been just sellers, and I don’t understand the trades they’ve made. Paxton, Jansen, and now a pitcher that inspires less than no confidence- for one of the team’s best prospects, no less.
none of these guys the Sox have traded for- alone or collectively- are going to move the needle for this team.
sometimes, no moves are the best moves. the Sox were just as well off before the trades.
Fever, I actually like Yorke who I think will develop. I’m not high on Grissom (hope I’m wrong). I don’t know the guy coming back but I too expected Yorke to go as part of a bigger deal
That’s exactly the plan… this is a great move in my mind. York was never going to play here with all the middle infield prospects we have and hopefully Priester can continue to develop in AAA with the fill in start here and there… Nice move Breslow
Troll, before you say significantly improved, since the break this team has been blasted. Let’s see what the EOY comparison looks like.
The Red Sox have probably decided they will not protect Yorke from the Rule 5 draft (as others have pointed out here). So, instead of losing him for nothing, they traded him for Preister. They have many second baseman in the minors (as others have pointed out here). They have Grissom, Valdez, Hamilton, Gonzales, Campbell and more in the lower minors.
Well of COURSE the Red Sox site was talking him up! It isn’t in their best interests to publicize the fact that everybody around the game feels his stock has fallen.
SoxProspects does an excellent job covering the Red Sox system. Beyond that I tend to trust Baseball America. Many sites don’t update regularly during the season. You’ll see that MLB.com has Campbell listed #30, for example, with Yorke #6. Let’s be real. 🙂 🙂 🙂
No team would take Yorke as a Rule 5 pick. They would have to keep him on the big league roster all year and Yorke can’t even handle triple A at this point.
Sox didn’t even look at his era. They will tinker with his mix and he is a instant #5. Won’t be surprised if in a few years he is even better.
Yorke is mlb ready. Someone would take him.
Yorke won’t crack my Pirates top 20. Makes top 30 if I value floor over upside.
Pitchers coming back. Rangers going for division.
Think your right on Grissom
York will be on Pirates before year is over I would guess. Might be there this week. They definitely would have taken him in rule 5. Many other teams would as well.
tff – Yeah I wouldn’t use up a good prospect on a reliever, not with Hendrik/Slaten/Martin hopefully returning soon plus Criswell in the pen now that Pax is in the rotation again.
I was really hoping they’d trade O’Neill for a decent SP rental, but his defense has made him almost a DH.
Hope I’m wrong, but I think the Sox won’t be GFIN after their current 2-7 skid.
dewey – Great minds think alike.
I’ve just got this gut feeling it’s Freddy Sanchez all over again, not sure if you remember him.
he isn’t there now, though he should have replaced Williams
Bailey Falter was activated from the IL and your favorite player was optioned to Indy
Yorke seems to have a better upside for offense than Williams
I think there is a good chance of that. Preister last year reminds me of Brandon Walter, pushed to the majors despite mediocre AAA numbers. But he has made progress this year, both at the major and minor league level. Look at the game reports both earlier and later, and he hasn’t stood still. Can’t judge by ERA alone.
Just a tweak or two from being a decent ML starter.
Also a matter of hitting your spots, something Houck was talking about after his last game. All pitchers are grinding a bit at this point in the season. I’m seeing too many waste pitches a foot out of the zone. Batters don’t chase those much.
mmullig:
“Yorke cant even handle Tripple A at this point”
What? .310 BA, .898 OPS.
Look at the bright side Fever. Until this deal with Yorke? They have traded pretty much nothing prospect wise and had to clear spots milb (now) numbers wise to make way for the new draftees. Coffey, the previous (2nd rd) highest pick traded was doing nothing. So they have lost nothing, until now perhaps Yorke who I and few others kind of wanted to see at 2b last cpl months and now will be given a chance with Pittsburgh.
Shame is the couldn’t have conned them into taking Grissom instead.. What a lemon of a deal that was giving up Sale for.. Him last winter.
Let’s hope Chase Meidroth is not used in a giveaway deal like Yorke also. Least not before seeing what the team has/needs ina RH 2b who would have to be better than westbrook, not to mention 6y younger.
john – Agree with you on the Sale trade, especially considering the Sox had a $20M option for next season and also sent $17M to Atlanta. Definitely an example of a savvy veteran executive (AA) taking advantage of a rookie (Breslow).
It’s funny how some Sox fans try to justify the trade in their mind by saying “It filled a position longterm with a cost-controlled young player that has promise”. That is true, but it doesn’t take away from the fact it was a massive overpay. Everyone knew if Sale was healthy he would once again be a solid starting pitcher, and the Red Sox confirmed they fully expected him to be healthy this season. Talk about buying high and selling low.
As for the trade deadline moves, if the Sox are done or acquire another 5+ ERA pitcher I really wonder how the players will feel about it. Even though most fans are skeptical about the Sox ability to win a WC, ownership showing they don’t have faith in the team is something players typically don’t react to very well. We’ve been down this road the past two years, we know how they collapsed immediately around the trade deadline and finished with 78-win records each year in large part because ownership didn’t believe in them enough to acquire talent at the deadline.
Lateral move…
Goku – A 22-year-old middle infielder and outfielder with an .898 OPS at AAA for a guy with a MLB career 6.46 ERA and 1.585 WHIP in 95 innings.
I’d say one guy’s ceiling is a lot higher than the other, and I’m not talking about the one who was mediocre at best pitching in AAA.
So you are saying its the other guy but someone is paying you by the word?
Fever pitch,
Why are you comparing 1 month at AAA to Priesters MLB numbers ?
I don’t care about ceiling at this point in the season.
I prefer a playoff push
Goku – Because the step from AAA to MLB is massive, many players who excel in the minors can’t hack it in the majors. So far that’s been the case with Priester, but Yorke hasn’t made that final jump yet so we simply don’t know.
Right now it’s quite evident Priester needs fixing, that is not the case with Yorke.
I wouldn’t use the word lateral but it’s prospect for prospect. It doesn’t help them win in 2024.
Hahaha ya
Even lateral may be a stretch
I don’t disagree with anyone who likes Yorkes upside, and I don’t hold high regard for Priester
Issue is, they added a minor leaguer to fill a major league position during a playoff push !!!
I wonder how Cherington feels about yet another one of his #1 draft picks going elsewhere because of inconsistency
Outside of Paul Skenes which didn’t require any special scouting, his number one picks haven’t exactly panned out well for this team
TheMan – Drafting has never been Ben’s forte.
Here’s the list of his top picks with the Red Sox:
Deven Marrero (now a TV analyst)
Trey Ball (still stuck in AA with a 7.58 ERA)
Michael Chavis (you should be familiar with him)
Andrew Benintendi (washed up at 29)
Woah, woah, woah, benni may be washed out, but he is doing so in a golden tub the sox gave him for some reason. He bathes in hundreds like only someone who doesn’t deserve it would do.
Neither has player development, Fever Pitch Guy
It still makes me sad he passed on Lawler for Davis
I still think Davis can be great , and ik Lawler just got a bad injury
But just way higher on Lawler for many reasons
They have not. Cherington’s been getting credit for building up the farm, but I don’t see it. Unless they thought that Davis was absolutely sure to stick at catcher, using the overall #1 for a possible 1B/DH is pretty sketchy. Their last 6 #1’s were:
2018 #10 Swaggerty
2019 #18 Priester
2020 #7 Gonzalez
2021 #1 Davis
2022 #4 Johnson
2023 #1 Skenes
And like you mentioned, Skenes was pretty automatic.
Cherington didn’t draft Priester
I stand corrected Dream
wow, east coast challenge trade for these two young men. interesting to see how they are used in their new systems in the early going
Priester will probably be wayyy better now that he’s left the Pirates
It’d a trend that continues to amaze
and that trend started even before Cherington’s arrival Goku
Charlie Morton is a perfect example
Oh ya look at some of these guys.
Cole, Morton, Musgrove, Glasnow, Clay Holmes, to name a few
Watch him become the next Tyler Glasnow
Quinn Priester is definitely not the next Tyler Glasnow. He could become a decent 3/4 though.
Isn’t Glasnow a 3?
Priester doesn’t have anywhere close to that kind of stuff. But if he turns into a solid rotation member—they’ll be happy enough.
Priester never has shown the sort of stuff Glasnow did, either in the minor leagues or majors. As of right now, Priester projects as a back of the rotation starter with the ceiling of a mid-rotation guy.
Good IF/OF prospect for a good SP prospect. Makes sense. And, Red Sox need more pitching depth in minors.
I think the shine is wearing off on the ‘good’ SP prospect. He seems to work very hard on his craft as there are always good stories on his work. However, at some point production matters and his stuff (many many pitches) just never jumps IMO.
Nothing good prospect about Yorke. He has a hit tool but weak defender mainly because of his range. Power is there but never came out. He can be a average to above bat and weak defender at non premium positions. 1 tool player. At least it’s the most important tool.
wait until Haines gets ahold of him, he’ll be a no tool player
Idk ..
When I look at a guy like Priester with his size, velo and sinker, I see absolutely no reason for him not to succeed
.. other than being on the Pirates
Hurt all the time?
You mean a guy with a ton of talent but no ability to stay healthy?
Zesty deal here. Like it for the Pirates.
Zesty? Now you’re talking my language!
Excellent use of “zesty”!!
Can we nominate this for the word of the day?
Good for both sides I think
Wtf. Another infielder…this guy better be a corner infielder…CHERRYington is a disgrace. I’m not blaming Nutting, because he gave Huntington leeway to make trades in 11,12,13 14,and 15.
He’s Played a lot of OF this year
not sure if you noticed but we just lost our second baseman.
Yep.
Lateral move. Still need an upgrade.
Yeah this wasn’t the improvement we wanted/needed, more like patching the dyke.
Yea sammy….but they need more..
By the way what is a washed out former number 1 pick doing now? Produce worker at Kroger????
Oh we definitely need more no arguments here. This is a trade for former first rounders though, so you could say Boston is doing the same thing. This is mostly filling a hole as Isee it, it’s not the move to actually make us better yet.
he’s not on the major league roster so it doesn’t matter
Right now, our options at second base are Alika Williams, Jared Triolo, and Liover Peguero. Gonzales fell into a massive slump this month before getting injured as well. We need a middle INF who we can slot in now.
Now they need another pitcher to replace Priester as the long reliever
Probably won’t be that hard to find someone. Jake Woodford has been dominating at Triple-A, could bring up Mike Burrows if you want to go with a top prospect.
Triolo has seriously regressed from last year offensively but he’s a very solid defender
Problem is, this team lacks an offensive depth or consistency
Williams is primarily a singles hitter with very little power
I was expecting regression from Triolo. The guy had an insanely high BABIP of .440, which in 200+ plate appearances in a single season, has only ever been surpassed by one player: Ty Cobb in 1911. Plus Triolo had a well below average exit velocity, so it’s not like he was rocketing batted balls past fielders. But he’s been much worse than I was expecting. I was expecting like a 85-90 OPS+, which with his defense, would have been plenty good enough. As for Williams, my only expectation has been Clint Barmes 2.0.
So you think a AAA guy is the answer?
Typical pirates fans .
Don’t wonder why they casually miss the playoffs this year
Yorke has hit better than any of the Pirates’ other options this year at Triple-A, is much more highly touted than either Peguero or Williams, and has been trending in the right direction this year. We gave up a pitcher with an ERA of nearly 6.50. Pirates got better today.
By acquiring a minor leaguer ???
They filled a spot for an injured player with a guy with some upside.
Certainly not an impact contender move.
Is Henry Davis a massive upgrade too because his minor league numbers are phenomenal too ?
I would’ve preferred a major leaguer, I guess im crazy for feeling that way..
A Major leaguer for Priester? I very highly doubt that Priester on his own gets a major leaguer aside from maybe a fringy low-leverage reliever or glove-first utility man, at the very best.
Would Henry Davis be a huge upgrade? Over Yasmani, absoutley. Is Yorke an upgrade over Alika Williams? I would put money on it. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather have a major leaguer, but for Priester on his own, that’s a good deal.
I like the move on its surface ,
But as usual, there’s no sense of urgency to win now , despite having most of the pieces to the puzzle in place
Would’ve preferred Rengifo or Kiner-Falefa etc.
You’re getting a solid prospect in Yorke dude can hit..
Something still can happen, the deadline isn’t close to over yet. This move doesn’t feel like the close to the end for the Piratesimo.
I respectfully disagree that the Bucs have most of the pieces in place to make a run for a WC spot
Suwinski, who they were counting on to have a better year than last and was sent to Indy last night, Michael A Taylor, Jack’s former counterpart in center field is having a horrible season, Ke’Bryan Hayes has seriously regressed from last year and Connor Joe stsrts often but would be a bench player on any other team
They have too many holes to fill
The Pirates weren’t relying on Suwinski to have a better year, just not this bad. He had an OPS of nearly .800 last year with 26 homers. Same thing with MAT and Hayes. I honestly blame Andy Haines for all of it. Hayes, MAT, Suwinski, Triolo, and Edward Olivares have all seen their wRC+ drop by at least 20% from last year. Each had a wRC+ above 95 last year. That’s 5 batters you were looking to rely on for at least playable production to above average hitting who have taken a huge step back. If one or two players regress, okay, that happens to every team. But 5 guys who were semi-regulars to fulltime regulars taking a 20%+ regression is a glowing reg flag.
Well you’ve addressed a couple holes. Ones they should upgrade with proven commodities that strengthen the lineup immediately.
They’re 3 games out late in the season and have a legitimate ace with some solid pitching behind him.
Not so sure they can retain these vet SPs ,this is the best rotation they’ve had in years…
the time is now imo
Cards just got Fedde .. Yorke is pathetic addition by comparison
Go in for a Kiner-Falefa or Regifo and that would actually be viable addition for a playoff push
Andy Haines was fired by the Brewers after their hitters regressed over his approach at the plate to take as many pitches as possible to get into the opponent bullpen.
It’s what he has done with this team
Andy Haines should have lost his job after last season
They are second in the league with strikeouts. Strikeouts mean they aren’t getting on base and have no chance of scoring. And because they k so much they are near the bottom in runs scored
You can’t rely on your pitchers to throw shutouts or limit runs to your advantage every game
maybe so, mlb1225 but Yorke was optioned to Indy
MLB-How come all of the posters on here know that Haines should have been fired two years ago and Cherington does not.
He fired the minor league hitting coach who had greatly improved Hayes’ hitting last year.
And he gets a minor leaguer for Priester who plays second base.
I really do hope that he has a major trade in the bag.
Reminds me of Matt Canada
Gonzalez’s pitch selection had deteriorated and had been swinging at just about any pitch thrown in his direction
There’s several Bucs that use this approach
You’re worried Alika Williams might lose some playing time?
Actually I’m worried he won’t…
Given they just added a minor leaguer
Wish he was another infielder. He is a dh. You can play him at 2b. He is a solid defender but lack of range. I haven’t seen him in outfield but range will be a problem and weak arm. If he hits you can play him wherever but not a plus defender.
That’s even worse news if true
If this is our big RF addition, I’m so done lol
He’s a good defender at 2b. Unless you played middle infield or really know baseball you won’t notice his range. Haven’t seen him in outfield. Don’t watch much AAA. Pnc right Field is easy though once you figure it out. Perfect for his speed. Had arm surgery and always looked below average to me so not expecting a gun out there.
I guess Priester wasn’t a decent bargaining chip for a major leaguer. But this does open up a roster spot, so maybe something else is coming?
Maybe Yorke will be added ?
Maybe! I don’t know much about him. I thought Peguero would have been brought up to fill the void left by Gonzales, but they don’t seem to want to play Peggy for some reason. Seems like Yorke has a little more versatility since he plays outfield and we obviously need help there too.
I think they’re trying to save the last option year on Peggy and his hitting at Indy this year is well below average (79 wrc+)
I think Priester could have brought more. Much more. I think they seen Yorke and they are right. Good approach, even better hands, maybe some untapped power and said wait until we get our Haines on him.
Dream- I agree,but they are selling low because they have many more highly rated starters.
I still compare Priester to Keller who was not very good at all his first 3-4 years.
He hadn’t pitched in two weeks before his last bad outing but he has shown steady improvement over the last couple of years.
If Yorke was very good he would have had a higher rating than 14.
Yorks ceiling is Gonzales Frazier. It’s alright and serves a need right now and next few years. Him and Gonzales can both play 2b or corner outfield.
Fair enough trade I suppose but if I was a team that could really develop pitching I am easily taking Priester.
Looks like a classic swap of a prospect drafted high by the prior regime for a still-young former high draft pick who has struggled but whose new GM thinks highly of. At least, that’s the thinking that makes sense to me!
Priester actually has a really good sinker, but is too inconsistent with that pitch
He has a bad habit of leaving it up over the plate at times
Sounds like he has plenty to work with – so it’s on to the usual rub of trusting in the player development to unlock those tools!
yeah he does, I think he could be the next Glassnow. great stuff but pirates couldn’t figure out how to harness and/or tried to turn him into a pitcher he is not.
The Bucs don’t exactly have a good player development system even with their young pitchers
How many years did it take for Mitch Keller to become a good pitcher?
Red Sox trying to balance IF to Pitcher ratio. Bloom went insane drafting middle infielders.
Cherington has done the same in Pittsburgh
This trade in a way represents the Bloom process: draft prospects a positions and with profiles that project to high odds of working out as “something” in order to accelerate the stockpiling of talent in the farm system, and then shift some of that talent for targeted needs.
A high school pitcher is one of the riskiest draft pieces you can grab – trading for a guy closer to the Majors, or even a young guy with MLB experience who still has real potential, probably is much more projectable, in a good way.
Specific to Priester, he also is likely among the many prospects who had a key stage of their development thrown off by 2020.
I always thought the same thing, even before Bloom. We’ve done a lot better developing hitters than pitchers. If a team can consistently develop good hitters, then they can buy or trade for good pitchers.
Which doesn’t mean we can ignore pitching, but we can get around it.
JoeBrady:
I agree with that sentiment. Draft best available, in Red Sox case: hitters. But, I felt Bloom did go overboard and neglected pitching in the drafts. As shown by the course correction this year (14 out of 20 draft picks were pitchers, and zero middle infielders, unless you want to count Carson).
Is this seriously the best we could get for Yorke though? I know he’s not a BA top 100 but the kid has hit at every level he’s been at. Seems like a future where he is a useful bat at the big league level is entirely within reach. Not saying I think he could be the centerpiece in landing a superstar or anything crazy, but I figured he’d at least be enough to fetch like an okay reliever or something. Was I just way off in that assessment?
DirtyWater:
Yorke has his limitations too. He has potential, but plenty of questions with defense and power. Priester throws 97mph and has a decent sinker, hopefully he gets more consistent. His Triple A numbers werent bad this year (3.21 ERA, 1.069 Whip, 1.9 BB/9, 9.6 K/9)
Yorke was the 17th pick in 2020, and Priester was the 18th pick in 2019. It doesnt get much more equal in a one-for-one trade.
I understand Yorke’s got his limitations, definitely not trying to suggest I thought he was going to be a superstar. But it seems he knows what he’s doing at the plate even if he’s not destined to be a slugger. Plus he’s almost MLB ready so personally I’m not thrilled to cash that chip in for someone who is still more of a development project. This is definitely my recency bias showing since 2B has been such a black hole for the Sox in recent years but I would’ve been thrilled if he could’ve settled in and hit around .270 with all singles and doubles. That would be a massive upgrade over what the rest of the bunch has been giving us.
Regarding Preister I get the appeal of his “stuff” but does he know how to pitch? That’s unknown for me (so I’m not saying he can’t, I’m saying I don’t know) because I’m not familiar with him – am open to hearing what someone more familiar with him would have to say. Obviously Breslow thinks they can teach him something and I hope he’s right. Trading for “stuff” over production always makes me a little nervous though because there are so many guys who have nice raw “stuff” and it never translates because they don’t understand the art of actually pitching.
This is a good article about the trade:
nytimes.com/athletic/5667544/2024/07/29/red-sox-pi…
That is helpful, thanks for passing along. Seems like he’s definitely a candidate for a repertoire tweak like Houck and Crawford, Hope the pitching staff can work their magic on this kid.
DW:
Im not sure why you consider Preister a ‘development project’. He’s already pitched at the major league level. He needs to work on stuff, sure, but so didnt Pivetta, Duran, Wong and so many more.
Yorke hasn’t played at MLB level yet, we have no idea whether he can handle it, so its unfair to compare Priester’s MLB numbers to Yorke’s Triple A numbers. But, if we compare their Triple A numbers, we have this:
Priester: 3.21 ERA, 1.069 Whip
Yorke: .898 OPS
Thats close enough for me to trust in Bailey to work out the kinks. I think the trade is pretty fair and now we have to wait 5 years to view the results.
Ty All In.
Its what I felt in the trade, just explained much better than I could ever have.
Because he’s gotten totally knocked around at the big league level? Do a 6.46 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 40 walks, and 19 long balls surrendered in 90 Major League innings suggest to you the profile of a guy who is ready to slide into the rotation of a team with playoff aspirations? Yeah, he’s had 30 nice innings at AAA this year but quite obviously has plenty to work on.
Yorke may need time to adjust when he gets the call, too. He also might not. He is considered a higher floor prospect because his approach at the plate and contact skills have always been his calling card. If I remember correctly I am pretty sure I heard some say they felt those two skills were already close to major league ready when he was drafted. His ceiling obviously isn’t as high since his defense looks iffy, he’s not fast, and he hasn’t developed much power, but that comes with the likelihood that he’s already much closer to the best he’s going to be, which yes, means less development.
Did you read the Athletic article regarding the trade, that ‘All In’ posted?
Here’s what they say about Yorke:
“He’s limited to second base and is a 45 defender there at best, as his arm has never come back after 2019 shoulder surgery, and neither his power nor his speed is average, so he absolutely must continue to hit for average with high contact rates to be an everyday player. I think that’s exactly what he is: a solid-average regular, no more, no less.
Yorke does hit the ball hard enough to keep that batting average up, but he hits the ball in the infield too often and he doesn’t have enough juice to get the ball in the seats more than 12-15 times a year. He could end up improving his defense enough to be somewhere close to average at second, but I’d bet on him being a run or two in the negative on defense.”
And they conclude with this:
“I have no opinion on who won this trade either way, both of these guys are good prospects”
————————————————————-
I dont see how you feel the need to ask:
“Is this seriously the best we could get for Yorke”
Yorke has a firmer floor and Priester has a better ceiling, but wider chance for failure. It will be years before a call can be made on this trade. Red Sox need pitching and have a surplus of infielders, deals like this have to be made to even that out.
First of all yes, I did read the article. Did you read my comment? If so you might have noticed I mentioned that I was and am well aware of his flaws, all of which are also highlighted in said article you copy/pasted. I also clearly asked the question before the article was shared with me and before I read it, so also not sure why you felt a need to frame your comment in a way to suggest I’m continuing to question the merits of Preister after reading it.
I never claimed I thought he was some 5 tool superstar in the making, I realize he is in the best case scenario an okay second baseman. Why I said “that’s all” in relation to Preister has nothing to do with who may have “won” or “lost” the trade or not grasping the relative upside untapped by Preister so far. What I was getting at and why I felt Yorke was more valuable to the Red Sox than a non-current asset like Preister is because the Red Sox have been getting less than nothing from their second baseman for several years now while starting pitching has been a relative strength of the team this year. Grissom or one of the other billion middle infielders in the system may prove to be the long term answer at the position, but are all either hurt or not ready in the here and now. Yorke having a higher floor and lower ceiling means he is closer to being at the peak of his development and readier to contribute sooner, possibly even already is now.
I’m not worried about “winning” or “losing” the trade, I am talking about timelines, if Yorke is ready to give the team professional at-bats at 2B right now then he is more useful to the Red Sox in 2024 than a starter who is not close to being better than our other rotation options, so I am not sure why you have such difficulty wondering why I was puzzled they didn’t trade him for someone who could also contribute more immediately. Is it really that crazy to wonder why a young, cost controlled, okay second baseman wouldn’t be able to fetch an okay rental reliever in a trade? Did I really need to have to spell it out to you in this excruciating level of detail for you to understand my comment?
I might have drafted Priester. Wouldn’t have touched Yorke. Sox are high fiving over this trade.
This wouldn’t surprise me if Peguero now would be included in a deal for a major leaguer.
After this trade lets hope not.
Yourke is going to be a good player….never a star, but good. He was blocked in Boston which is too bad.
mike – Yeah with future stars like Grissom and Westbrook, no chance for Yorke to crack the roster ….. (this is rare sarcasm BTW) …..
LMAO….. Westbrook is a Minor leaguer that was a nice story, but needs to be off the Major League roster and will be as soon as Grissom is back.
Campbell? Cespedes and Arias? How many 2B do you want anyways?
tff – Cespedes has been mentioned more often as a future 3B (including by Sox Prospects) and is projected to replace Devers there. Even though it’s assumed he could play 2B, he’s too stocky to be a good 2B and as we all know stocky players tend to get stockier as they get older.
Like I said I understand why he’s considered expendable, I just think they could have gotten a lot more for him or packaged him for a talented MLB player.
I’m hesitant to project anything for Cespedes. Need to see him in full-season baseball first before we will have any real hint of what he can become.
Arias is more of a glove-first player, the kind of guy you expect to end up at 2B/SS if his bat is good enough.
Campbell is a lot more athletic than Cespedes, and while he could likely be good in the outfield, he is worth serious consideration at 2B/SS/3B. Looks like the organization is trying to find him a position right now, but it is telling that they aren’t moving him DOWN the defensive spectrum. Early returns are pretty impressive, look for video on him?
For the start of 2025, I’m expecting Mayer, Grissom, Story, and Hamilton in the majors, with Meidroth (no need to add to the 40-man roster) as the primary minor league depth. But Campbell is very near to the majors as well, arguably as close as Mayer, and he is a major wild card in the mix.
Hard to see Yorke or Valdez improving on the above. Wish him best with the Pirates. If Yorke becomes Freddy Sanchez, I’ll be happy for him, but he isn’t playing at that level yet.
Bonehead move trading Yorke. We couldn’t trade Valdez, Meidroth, Lugo, Kavadas, or Sogard instead? For a team that struggles with hitting, let’s give up on a decent one for a crap pitcher! I don’t care about the “upside” Priester may have. It’s not a good trade from Breslow. That one is a dumpster dive.
Weren’t these two guys basically drafted back-to-back in 2020? What are the odds they get traded for each other?
With that said, think the Pirates did great here.
Priester was a 2019 draftee. I think you’re thinking of Mick Abel
I stand corrected, but still love the deal for the Bucs. Priester hasn’t shown any sign he can put it together in MLB. Probably ends up in long relief at some point.
Any team should be happy with Priester as their #5/spot starter
Andrew Bailey has been working miracles with some of the pitchers in Boston. (See Houck, Crawford, Criswell, Booser).
Hopefully it works out for both teams.
Priester 2019 as well. 18th or somewhere late teens.
18th pick in the first round
Breslow making moves, that’s a good thing!
I thought Yorke could be called up to fill the void at 2B. Haven’t really heard of the guy going to Boston. Time to do some research.
They were never going to start the clock on him and potentially ruin his value. He’s been good in AAA but before that going back to last year, he had been mediocre.
Yeah, I was thinking he would have been traded or called up right after the deadline to help out at 2B. He’s had a pretty good year at AAA.
I keep forgetting about Grissom… For some reason. Hopefully he’s the answer because they need 2B help. Bad.
Priester looks like a good pitching prospects but hasn’t been able to put it together in the majors. Should be interesting.
The big thing everyone is missing here is that Yorke would have been taken in the rule v draft next year for free. We get a young pitcher for him now and next year Mayer is likely up with story, grissom or Hamilton at 2b.
Yeah there was a lot of players to protect from the rule 5 draft this year. I think that forced the Jansen trade as Paulino would have needed to be protected.
I think there’s some more trimming to do of the roster as both Blaze and Niko are rule 5 eligible and I can’t imagine they keep both.
Campbell isn’t all that far from the majors. Wouldn’t shock me to see him force his way onto the roster in ST next year. He has dominated AA from the get-go, and is still improving his BB/K rates.
Yorke would have been protected – but that would have left somebody else unprotected that they don’t want to lose. So as you say, a positive move on that front.
Priester also requires a 40-man roster spot, but then they have space for more pitchers.
I’d include Campbell in there as well, if only for maybe 2026.
Campbell is as old as the “big three” prospects at Portland, and is outhitting all of them by 200 points of OPS. I realize it would be an extremely rapid promotion, but I don’t think it is impossible that he might move up to Worcester with the others. More a matter of figuring out the playing time than anything else.
Also possible that he skips AAA entirely. Not entirely unprecedented.
All depends on how management sees him, but the way he is mashing in AA right now, it is tough to imagine the minors continuing to challenge him for another year and a half.
I don’t think there is much of a rule 5 problem this year even before trading Yorke and I don’t think that was the main motivation. Next year now that could get interesting the rule 5 in 2025.
I think your selling it short as a reason. They’ve literally traded 2 rule 5 guys in the last 2 days. They are obviously trying to buy, but with those pieces so they don’t feel like they are giving up much.
Oh, I wholly agree it is a factor. Especially since they might want to promote a player or two who isn’t yet Rule 5 eligible. Thus important to clear some of the guys who are eligible but don’t really fit into the plans. More to come, unless I’m mistaken.
Glancing at the numbers, I’d rather have Nick Yorke than the doubtful Priest…
Respectfully, I think the A’s would welcome either one
Thank you @123redsox, but most of our bullpen is decent. Most of the time. Slightly wonky rotation, I’d agree…
Had great times in Boston 2012 & 2013 ALDS & ALCS, so the Sox fans get a free card. To be fair, Yankee field 2015 was fun too, so I sit snuggly on the bar in between…
This makes sense as I don’t see Priester as a high ceiling guy but for God’s sake Ben, make this team better now! He does not deserve the benefit of job security much longer.
Ben has never deserved the benefit of job security. This is year #4 of his tenure and the Bucs were supposed to be competitive this year and instead their offense has struggled at times and are near the bottom of the league in average and runs scored.
The only facet that has kept them afloat is their pitching staff
The way he operates with zero urgency infuriates me. Like you said, his meal ticket is Skenes who they literally had to do nothing to develop, and the pitching. Even after Nutting calls him out, basically does nothing while guys are being traded for returns they can easily match.
Exactly.
A very succinct and accurate post.
Thank you.
Paul- Year 5.
Mendoza, I was already disappointed thinking this was year 4, knowing it’s really year 5, now it’s depressing
1. Feels like something else coming
2. Trade only made because Gonzales went down. if Yorke ends up on big league roster it shows how far Pergeuo has fallen as a legit prospect.
Or they are working on a deal involving Peguero
Agreed. Peguero was never getting promoted this year and didn’t really have a future.
He was never going to be promoted this year? Says who? If he played good enough, of course he would have been promoted.
Putt-fine, he could catch fire and called up but use some sense here. He hasn’t been apart of the plan this year and he’s been mediocre at Indy. Happy?
Yorke has split time this year at 2b and LF. Cherington lurrrrvs positional flexibility.
I can’t believe another team hired Ben Cherington
Pirates are the biggest bandwagon fans. Empty seats for years.
You mean like every other losing franchise in baseball?
yes LiberalSteve, I get excited about spending a couple hundred dollars to attend a Pirate game only to watch them get destroyed by their opponent
I was once a 30 year season ticket holder but after the promise that they would be competitive if a new stadium was built and it didn’t come to fruition over the next 5 years, I stopped wasting my money going to games
The Pennsylvania taxpayers funded the construction of PNC Park
@TheMen3
“The Pennsylvanian taxpayers funded the construction of PNC Park”…
As an A’s fan, I’m disgusted by the competition from Oakland & Las Vegas to retain or “attract” the ugly duckling of Fisher’s A’s.
However, how to you stop this? Do you say you have to stay within state lines? Use the MLB protection laws (executively) to force this? Consequently it’ll be expansion only?
The A’s are an utter mess, Fisher doesn’t have the money for Vegas, and baseball is a couple of years from a McCourt in Sacramento…
The minimum cap (and thus the need for a decent product) might also help…
Peter in London
Man if AI created a poster persona to be unlikable by all on the internet it’d get 99% of the way to you.
Shut up! You are dumb Pirate fans have put up with more bad ownership than you could ever imagine
Well, I’m imagining 2 years ago the ballpark empty
Since the 1970’s there has been 3 owners and the first brought the city 2 WS championships, a conglomerate of local businessmen and the city bought it which lasted until 1997 when Kevin McClatchy, of the publisher with the same name and Bob Nutting bought the team. Nutting’s now the sole owner
and as fans we have no control over who owns the team so whatever you’re trying to say, it obviously makes no sense
Oakland can have the Pirates
We really don’t care lol
It’s just filler until steelers start round here
When they’re good it’s awesome, but that like never happens
Speak for yourself!
Don’t understand this pathetic opinion
There are thirty major league franchises and Pittsburgh has one of them – I’m grateful that I can cheer a local team because I love baseball
Yes, I get pissed that they’ve been crap for so long but I was lucky to see them win two World Series and hopefully, in the future, others can enjoy a solid team
Ask Cleveland how they felt when the pathetic Browns moved to Baltimore and won the Super Bowl in 2000
If you’re willing to give them up, why waste your life commenting on them?
I’d prefer not to waste tax dollars on another stadium when this one’s up.
Does the local revenue out-preform the initial tax hike?
Super doubtful .
If they get a new owner,then we’re talkin , but until then I’m pretty indifferent
They pissed away one of my favorite rosters in 2013 and never added the pieces necessary to win a WS/make a deep run
Nothing points to any different approach.
Cities fund symphonies, museums, theaters….
Watch a sporting event when a team is winning
Blacks, whites, women, Jews, gentiles, gays, straights, etc all high fiving and celebrating with each other
Name another civic activity that does that for a city
If the owners don’t even take the team seriously, why should I?
And these great times you speak of never happen because the team is junk and fails to reach .500 most seasons
Replace them with a AAA team. Wouldn’t make a difference to me
Maybe if more ppl weren’t sucker’s and felt the same way the owner would be forced to sell
When the franchise was purchased in 1997, the price was $ 97 million dollars, fast forward to 2024, the franchise is now valued at $1.3 billion dollars
Why would Nutting sell? He’s turning a major profit every year
I hate to be this guy but I honestly look through obituaries everyday and start at N! I see him as evil and greedy! We paid for that ballpark and he hasn’t held up his end of spending enough when we had a chance to be competitive. He needs to sell but won’t do that ever
Exactly.
We understand the restrictions but all we want is for him to “go for it” like once every decade.
The guy even low balled AJ Burnett !!! Let him go to Philly during a crucial season.
That team in 2013-15 should’ve gone for David Price or Giancarlo Stanton ,
Instead we got Travis Snider and Clint Barmes
It’s so pathetic and history is repeating itself
As we see Jazz and Lane Thomas go elsewhere, our GM is once again forced to trade for players making league min, players we have to literally look-up to know who tf they are..
Okay, I like that for the Bucs. Gets them another MLB-ready bat at a position that they just lost their regular at. I like Priester, but as of right now, he’s a back of the rotation starter at best. The very best case scenario for him is that he pulls a Charlie Morton. Both were similar in the way they pitched (sinkerballers who heavily focused on ground balls)
That Charlie Morton comp is pretty accurate. Both had average at best fastballs (Morton’s got better with time but still wasn’t particularly great) but solid sinkers and good break on their curveballs. For his sake I hope the Red Sox tell Priester to basically scrap the fastball, rely on the sinker, harness his control/command on the curveball and improve the changeup to be more effective against lefties. I doubt Quinn reaches Charlie’s level of success because that’s a lot of things to work on and succeed at but that should be the plan. As is Priester is a solid depth piece for the rotation but probably better suited as a long reliever on a MLB roster.
Sounds perfect for Bailey. He tells everyone to scrap fast balls
Different type of trade but Priester just doesn’t have the velocity needed and he craps himself every time he pitches
Wow they must be real down on York then
I suspect it’s less about being down on Yorke (though Breslow probably doesn’t have any special liking of him) than about having his eye on what he can turn Priester into and being willing to deal this piece in return.
I’d guess that’s a big part of it. The RS have been doing okay with other team’s retreads. My guess is that they hope that Bailey can get him to the next level. That “could” make it a huge win.
Sox have had the worst 2nd base production in baseball while Yorke has been raking in the minors. They’ve been playing Jamie Wesrbrook at 2nd lately. Safe to say Bres isn’t feeling Yorke as a legit prospect.
Not sure if it played into the Red Sox’ thinking, but Yorke is a RHH who has struggled against LHP. In the AAA this year, Yorke has a .492 OPS against LHP and a 1.071 OPS against RHP. It was less pronounced in AA this year.
Sox fans, is this guy still thought of highly? Numbers look very mediocre, like draft pedigree is most of his appeal.
Hit first middle infielder who never hit quite enough
I think the FO was scared off by Yorke’s 2023 season with the 122/51 K/W in 444 ABs. That’s awful. He rebounded well this year, but I’m guessing that the RS FO just saw that as an opportunity to sell high.
He’s tough to peg. He has real hitting tools, but he’s been up and down. He was a “savings” first round pick (signed for cheaper than slot) who in his first full year made the front office look brilliant by putting up a big year in both lower-A and high-A ball…that got him on the prospect lists and made him the apple of many eyes. He then lost most of that momentum with a terribly scuffling 2022, partly rebounded with a rock solid performance at AA at age 21, threatened to lose those gains early this year as he continued in AA, and then he managed to get the ball rolling again with an unexpected leap in performance upon promotion to AAA.
In other words, good luck pegging him in terms of what he will be, but he’s not some rando and has real bat potential.
Well he finally made a trade even though it appears it may not help us much this year.
Still needs to do more. Thought Priester would have been packaged with a minor league prospect to get a bat that will help us now.
I had a feeling Priester was being “showcased” on Saturday. I figured his 5 runs allowed would have scared teams off.
Some people (like me) interpret a bad showing as an opportunity to buy low. It depends on how much you like to gamble.
Sox fans rejoicing that the 3 part-time writing positions at the Boston Newspapers FSG owns, which are dedicated to pretending that Nick Yorke is a great prospect, are no longer necessary
Troy – Let us know when Priester will stop pretending to be a crappy MLB pitcher.
Fever, while moving Priester to the bullpen might work, moving Yorke to LF (or 1B) will never work
Troy – In 223 innings playing LF he’s been solid, no errors either. He can definitely bounce between 2B and LF.
But as an established 2B there’s really no need to even think about LF.
Freddy Sanchez, look him up. I see the similarities.
There’s zero to no chance Yorke would play LF in PNC, it’s simply too big. Right now the Bucs have a glut of all-field/no-hit MIs competing for 2b. Yorke would be welcomed there if he can manage an OPS >.700. I wouldn’t also discount this quite possibly being Cutch’s last year and Yorke seeing DH time in future at a price Nutting would love.
Yorke’s pro debut in 2021 was very legit, and his rebound in AA last year made up for a horrible 2022. It’s not that he’s a great or mediocre prospects, but rather than his huge inconsistency makes it all quite unknown.
soxu – He had injuries to his toe, back and wrist in 2022 …. how can you count that against him? That’s kinda harsh.
Really smart baseball trade for both teams. Traded from a strength to acquire a weakness. Both have strong prospect and draft pedigrees with varying levels of success. Yorke’s upside is probably higher than Priester, but Priester is probably the safer bet to settle into an MLB role as either a long reliever or back of the rotation starter.
As a Pirates fan I really like the trade since the Pirates are thin on bats in the upper levels of the minor leagues, but very deep with pitching depth. Yorke might get a shot sooner rather than later with Gonzales on the IL for several weeks. I like that he has played some corner outfield as well, although I’m not sure how well he plays it. Might also be a precursor for another trade.
its okay
If anyone can get this kid on track it’s Andrew Bailey
And if anyone can stop Yorke hitting it’s Andy Haines.
exactly, Terrier1980. Just ask Hayes, Taylor and Suwinski
Red Sox: We’re weak at second base. Let’s trade our best second base prospect for a sub-par pitcher.
Either Storey or Grissom will be the Red Sox 2B next season.
Grissom will hopefully be anywhere but Boston next season
Coop – If healthy, it will be Story at 2B with Mayer taking over SS. That’s because Story is un-tradable without eating a ton of money. We kinda figured all along that made Yorke expendable, but would have been nice to see what he can do at the major league level before Mayer and Story were ready to man the middle infield.
Very short sighted. Yorke isn’t ready and he needed to be added to the 40 man soon. Next year you have story, Mayer, Hamilton, grissom and even raffaela all vying for time. Yorke needed to be moved and this pitcher has a chance to be a a quality starter. Yorke was going to be snatched for free in the rule v if they didn’t do something.
And that’s because Story, Mayer, Hamilton, Grissom and Campbell just got traded?
Closest. He’s about 10th best
good swap. Quinn was kind of stuck here. Wasn’t going to get many starts outside of being depth.
Yorke a pretty decent prospect that has handled the bat well in minors. Pirates need Offense. He can fill in at second and play OF.
Both 1st rounders and top 100 prospects at some point
Good for both sides i think.
Not a splash move but still good.
Change of scenery for both. Priester can be a back of rotation/long arm/spot start pitcher. Yorke plays 2B/LF something Pittsburgh needs right now. Yorke needs to change his approach he hits line drives, could a +20HR with more angle.
Yorke has changed his approach before. This may be the best approach for him.
All he’s using the whole field and hitting line drives with his improved defense which is at worst league average at 2nd he’s a big leaguer imo. The cool thing is I think we find out now he wasn’t getting a chance with Boston not when Breslow traded Sale for Grissom.
Hope they’re working on Rooker, Ward or Bleday. 2 of them would be great. This lineup is not adequate as is. Diaz & an OF is OK too. Cherington needs to do something & not waste these great SP that they have
I don’t want Ben to trade the farm away just so we lose in the first round of the playoffs
They have too many holes to fill to become a championship team and anything less is the same story of every playoff team they’ve been for 45 years
While I understand your point to a degree, why not improve the offense now with 2024 (and beyond) in mind?
Regardless of whether or not they make the playoffs this year or lose in the 1st round, the starting pitchers’ win-loss records matter to them THIS year. The Pirates have lost winnable games and they even handed Skenes his first loss due to a very poor showing on offense. He couldn’t have been very happy about that.
The key Pirate starters have been pitching their hearts out this year.
I understand your point of view, Not a Casual MLB fan but no one can predict injuries or player regression from year to year
Everyone believed that this current roster would have been more competitive this season, young players improving their offensive skills, that their pitching staff would mature
Only Keller and the promotion of Skenes has really kept us in the hunt for the playoffs
Bednar has regressed, both Perez and Marco have been disappointing, the offense has not improved as a whole
Only a few select players have been able to keep us in games
Had the offense scored runs during Skenes’ first 9 starts, he could easily have 9 wins
I just don’t believe that trading for one player will really improve this team enough to be resurrected into a playoff contender
Ward is completely lost in july…got leaned in the head..slumped so badly…a trade for him wouldn’t do anything but lose prospects by the pirates. CHERRYington needs to be held responsible if no other trades are made. Needs reevaluated as with the MORON. Nutjob Nutting better kick some butt and quit being cheap. He has a chance to build something great for the next 6 to 7 years. He has a drawing card in skenes. He can’t blow it by being cheap and letting the current gm and manager and coaching staff BE MORONS
Nutting is cheap. No matter how well his guys are playing, he’s not going to pay them. MLB needs a salary FLOOR. Guys like Nutting and the A’s Fisher have no business owning professional teams.
Ward hit a grand slam on Sunday
To paraphrase The Who: Meet the new GM, same as the old GM.
Sam Kennedy better have enjoyed his summer vacation to this point. At this rate he is going to spin a LOT of BS after the trade deadline. I wonder if he will attack the fans again for management and ownership doing nothing but raise ticket prices of course.
IMVHO, this is a swap of two slightly diminished prospect.
For PT, Peguera and Triolo don’t seem like legit prospects, so Yorke ‘could’ start as soon as 2025. And maybe they stopped believing in Priester’s potential. They already look like they have a good rotation without him.
For the RS, it looks like value for value. 5 years for Priester v 6.5 years for Yorke. But with the huge advantage of adding another arm to the pitching staff. We need innings, and we need them no later than 7/15.
Joe, we need *quality* innings as well as quantity innings. There is a difference.
This was another ‘what can we buy cheap’ move. I don’t think this helps the rotation a ton this season considering you have to account for the roughly 3 dozen innings he tosses in AAA this year, not just the roughly 4 dozen he’s thrown in mlb.
Then, consider arm strength isn’t his strong suit, combined with the fact his topped out around the 100 IP mark the last few seasons as well.
As a move… it doesn’t hurt. I assume before doing this breslow had a much better read on how other teams viewed Yorke as a trade chip than any of us might. So, while some may gripe about having been able to package Yorke towards….. something… had there been a quality option on those lines I think you’d have seen it.
I think this was buying an insurance policy, and an early start on a 2025 project arm, not about improving the rotation for a WC push.
So something that I forgot, based on his performance this year, is Vaughn Grissom still exists. He’s probably the most immediate internal solution at 2B if he can stay healthy.
I’m not super high on Grissom, never really was, but there’s a reason why they traded for him.
Ben Cherington is sad! He should be fired if 2 bars aren’t added to this lineup! Yorke isn’t going to be anything more than a utility and we have plenty of them!
Two bars should be enough to drown their sorrows.
2 bars is enough for a good signal, Mike…
Opens bullpen spot for Perez or Gonzalez once Falter comes off the IL. I like Priester but his ceiling as a starting pitcher is easily replaced with Ashcraft or Burrows.
A small but solid move on both sides. Yorke could probably start at 2b for Pittsburgh and he needed to be added to the 40 man before next year. The red Sox needed to move him out and they have a ton of infield prospects. They need pitching and priester could work with Bailey and maybe be a quality starter. He has control years too.
red sox obviously believe they can unlock his potential and so far bailey and his staff have a strong track record. with so many years of control this could be a solid long-term move. with starters going less and less innings the ability to identify underperforming but “unlockable” arms is critical
Take heart, Red Sox fans, because Quinn Priester is tall…
A 7.74 ERA last year and a 5.06 ERA this year. Well done Breslow, he should be an immediate help to the bullpen who is a ground ball pitcher but has been giving up fly balls this year. Fly balls at Fenway? Are you kidding me? Great pickup!!! He will fit in great in our bullpen!!!
Breslow, please get out of the discount dumpster and pickup someone who will help out the team, not garbage!
Craig plans to power wash Quinn Priester. Another team’s rubbish is our gem, AL34.
this is letting Breslow cook. He is the champ of turning these fringe pitchers into dominant big leaguers by fully harnessing their arsenals and pitch shapes. This is how he made a name for himself in Chicago.
Do you actually believe Quinn Priester will become “dominant”?
Have you watched him pitch? He has a good sinker…sometimes. That’s about it.
Doubt he will ever be dominant. Hoping that he can be a solid depth starter next year, maybe a 4.25 to 4.50 ERA for 15 starts or so.
Rick Porcello was a sinkerball pitcher, and he had “dominant” stretches.
Doesn’t mean this guy will, but his repertoire doesn’t preclude the possibility.
Not a terrible comp, though in his best years Porcello had much better command than Priester has shown to date.
Through the age of 23, Porcello had just a 4.55 ERA, not all that far from where Priester is at this point. Let’s hope that Priester matures as well as Porcello did!
Bucs turned Bailey Falter into an actual pitcher. They ‘fixed’ Mitch Keller, who’s now a solid top of rotation guy. Not to mention developing Luis Ortiz and Jared Jones. Perhaps Priester needs a different coach with a different approach, and maybe the Sox can offer that, but it’s not like Pittsburgh isn’t successful with pitchers.
Breslow didn’t even look at his era. Priester #5 already could become a 4. Anything after that would be really impressive development.
I suspect Breslow and his pitching braintrust liked 4 things about Priester –
1) his acquisition cost (cheap)
2) remaining control (5 or 6 seasons depending on deployment)
3) he’s predominantly an offspeed pitcher
4) milb scouts liked his changeup and he already has a slider.
Combined, points 3 & 4 mean they expect he will buy into their affinity for the sweeper (despite how its the single worst pitch for arm health) and his current pitch mix means he should be able to catch onto throwing it with control relatively quickly.
Has a good sinker. Used to have a world class curve. It was so good it was bad. Allegedly was throwing 99 98 in 2020 when no one could see him. Every site ran with that story and he was top 100.
Per Ian Browne on X:
Craig Breslow on the acquisition of Quinn Priester. “In Quinn we see a young starting pitcher with a ton of potential. He throws strikes and misses barrels and keeps the ball on the ground which is a good place to start when seeking rotation pieces. It hurts to give up a player as talented as Nick but we saw upper level middle infielders as an area where we have a lot of good players.”
Apparently Breslow hasn’t watched Priester pitch lately
He rarely gets ground outs and the barrels of the bats hit him hard
Yorke is 22 years old with an 898 OPS at AAA. They really didn’t want to keep him around?
Yorke has been solid at AAA, but his Statcast expected line is just .308/.402/.458. Worth a promotion to the majors, but I wouldn’t expect anything special.
Anyone capable of making the show puts up a 800 900 ops at AAA. Red sox won’t miss him.
22 years old 898 OPS. That’s not some random guy that’s a good prospect.
Looking like average above at best. Would need to find 20 hr power to be good. I’m expecting Nicky G 2.0 light.
People need to stop saying average as if it’s a bad thing.
Disagree with the statement pirates haven’t got much out of second base all year. Gonzo has done nothing but out the barrel on the ball consistently. He’s played good defense as well. I don’t think Yorke solves any immediate major league need but appearances he has a chance to be a solid hitter
With Bae and Palacios down as well as Nick G on the IL, Yorke may be thrust straight into action at the MLB level.
on brand for Boston. The team spearheading the death of the fastball acquires guy with questionable 4-seamer. Targeted move. Buy Priseter stock…
Did not see this coming. I thought the bosox viewed Yorke as highly coveted.
We do but we have too many infielders right now. With Casas, Devers, Grissom, Hamilton, Story (upon return), there’s really no place for him to go.
Yorke seems like a 4A player anyway, to be honest
If he was highly coveted they would keep him or trade him for something better. Seems he was someone they wanted to trade and found a taker and I would imagine they are thrilled.
We all knew Yorke was going he’s a second baseman and has become very solid defensively. The guy can hit as long as he uses the whole field. He gets in trouble when he thinks he’s a home run hitter and tries to pull everything. He’s a line drive machine when he’s right. My guess he’s a solid big league second baseman within a year or two.
I don’t know much about Quinn Priester but it looks like he’s a heavy ground ball pitcher who gets hit hard when his pitches get up. This is the perfect guy for Bailey to mold. He’s 6’3 and 200 pounds solid pitchers build and has options seems like a good trade for both teams.
Ward just hit a GS yesterday, numbers are similar to DeLaCruz. Both are under control. Still hoping for Rooker & 1 other player (Diaz, Ward, DeLaCruz, Bleday) They all have team control, trade some prospects & 1 or 2 of Suwinski, Peguero, Olivares. Help the Buccos NOW
No one wants Peguero, Olivares unless they for some reason don’t have any quad a outfielders in their system.
We have too many infielders as is. Can’t hurt to get pitching help. Not sure of his talent level though
I think Sox management is lot more interested in Kristian Campbell now than Yorke, which is part of what made him expendable. I was hoping they would get more for him, but I guess this shouldn’t be surprising…
Dude just became Quinn Priestaahhh.
Was hoping Yorke would be transitioned to either the Mets or Yankees.
After all that time of Nick Yorke hype we come to find out he is worth exactly one 6+ ERA pitcher with spotty control that doesn’t strike out many people.
Is the plan to stack more of these types of pitchers? I know we are the worst franchise in history at developing pitchers, but isn’t it mostly because we draft, sign, and trade for pitchers like this?
I’m not defending our pitching development, but we #13 in ERA, and haven’t devoted a huge amount of assets to it.
Only 1 #1 since 2017 and no #2 picks spent on pitching. And we probably have the lowest spending among the big market teams in spending.
Given the almost complete lack of investment in pitching, being #13 is pretty remarkable.
#7 in park adjusted ERA. Fenway always makes hitters look better than they are, pitchers look worse.
Oh, I totally agree on half of that. ERA blames the pitcher for weak defense behind them, and it is far more than just the Fenway scorers. Devers had 10 errors at home, 9 on the road last year. This year he has 5 errors at home, 2 on the road. Errors are almost totally useless in judging defense because of how they are assessed.
Defensive stats have gone through various iterations over the last couple decades. *ALL* of them are superior to errors and fielding percentage, but we couldn’t do a really good job with them until the Statcast data emerged. At this point that is the gold standard. You know the trajectory of the ball, how far the fielder had to go and how long he had to get there, and you can do a pretty good job of assessing the difficulty of a play. (Still not perfect, but better than anything in the past.) As you know, Devers was the worst defensive regular in the majors at third base last year, 6 runs below average. That added 0.04 to opposition run scoring — and he wasn’t the only defensive butcher on the team. Devers is on pace for something similar this year.
But that’s aside from the boost that Fenway gives to offense, between the limited foul territory and the short left field. A Fenway team will score (and allow) 4% to 7% more runs over the course of the season than one in an “average” ballpark. A team playing in Tropicana Field will score/allow 4% to 6% fewer. From that alone, a pitcher with a 4.00 ERA in an average park might have a 3.84 ERA when playing for the Rays and a 4.28 ERA when playing for the Red Sox.
Hardly earthshattering news, I think we all know that Fenway is a good park for hitters. It just puts a number to the effect.
And again, I agree with you on the impact of defense. Last year’s defense, in particular, was HORRIBLE, costing the pitching 47 runs in theory (and then additional runs for the additional outs that they needed to get). That alone would have been cause to fire Bloom, because he should have known it would be horrible going in. They still aren’t a good defensive team overall, but they’ve cut that by a third so far. Wong and Valdez are defensively inept, at least as bad as Devers, and Rafaela was very shaky when he first moved to shortstop (seems to be settling in now).
I have to assume Bailey, Cora and Breslow see this guy as primed for a breakout, because right now he just looks like marginal roster depth.
In Bailey I trust.
An old fashioned prospect for prospect challenge trade! By gar its been a while!
A Breslow/Bailey project. Sox need pitching depth and Infielders are a surplus. Not bad.
Now that Yorke is gone it will be interesting who they trade for an impact arm. The Red Sox farm is loaded extremely deep they should be able to deal out their 10-20s for impact relief pitching. I’m just not sure they will only Breslow knows.
Yorke sounds a bit like Refsnyder. Good hitting, defensive position unclear.
Priester? If not a starter, maybe the Red Sox believe they can narrow down his pitches to be an impact reliever.
Except refsnyder is pretty good at defense
That’s an old take on Yorke his defense at 2nd has improved tremendously he was voted the best defensive second baseman in the Eastern League last year. He makes all the plays he should, might lack making the spectacular play, but he makes very few errors has good hands and throws well for second.
I stand corrected i was basing my comments on past analysis and comments from cora this spring that his calling card was his bat when he was sent back to minor league camp after not hitting too well.
The cool thing is we get to soon I’m guessing Yorke is called up quickly.
Quinn Priester, at best this guy is a project and has to spend time on the minors to get right. So he is of no help right now. Not a key pickup at all.
YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST !!
YORKE is dating PEPPERMINT PATTY !!
Fellow RedSox nation fans…. I know Bailey has done wonders so far as PC but did I miss his walk across the Charles river lately???
D for Pittsburgh. Nicky G is hurt so they trade for a similar not quite as high ceiling player. Priester hasn’t been anything special for them and they have better options now and in the future. I get it but Priester is more valuable.
A for Boston. A DH for a starting pitcher. Sure you can put him at 2b or outfield and he is passable but not a plus defender. Priester as is can be a 5th starter. I think he can be improved and be even better. 23 years old. I think he can be one of those guys that takes longer to figure it out.
If you trade Priester you basically are saying you can’t develop him. I said when Holmes is traded don’t be surprised when he is closing out games. Well don’t be surprised if Priester becomes a starting mlb pitcher.
He’s far better then passable defensively at 2nd this is an old and wrong take that people who have actually watched Yorke no is a dumb take. I’d say he’s at least going to be league average defensively at 2nd.
Pittsburgh got better deal here
you would think the Bucs would put the best players in a lineup when Skenes is pitching but alas, Shelton didn’t
There’s no valid reason for putting Palacios at the lead off position
He should be the next player to be dfa
The pirates have traded a lot of starters this year. Brubaker ( pure 3 million salary dump), wolf and now Quin. Don’t think any would be in the rotation but not much to show for it. Reservarions about Yorke because Grissom has done nothing. Probably a former first rounder swap from prior GMs
Wolf has 7 something era. I don’t use era but everything else is bad. Not a starter. JT needed traded so no choice. Priester they gave up on. But they have lots of better pitching coming.
Not saying he was any good but giving up a starter for him last year cost them Oviedo. Just saying they have got rid of a lot of starters. JT could have stayed on extended IL and no he wasn’t part of the future but they could have got more.
For Nick Yorke? Our #6 for this guy? Is this where I say I trust our former pitcher and now PBO?
Good move for the Sox. However, I think the Pirates have all of their moves in the minors. Gorski, Lamb, Mcadoo, Ashcraft, Seth Beer, even Fraizer… Give it a shot. If they don’t produce, send them back down.
typical Pirate lineup tonight against a reliever
He struck out the side in the first inning
Scott, the relief pitcher who is pitching against the Bucs already has 4 strikeouts in 2 innings
This team needs more than just a AAA infielder to be competitive
Pirates possible trade updates.
Washington got a massive return for Thomas heck no.
Turner returned was strong but fair. Beating it would be a over pay but reasonable to do so. With Rowdy and Cutch there isn’t anywhere for Turner. A real contender would find playing time though maybe but 1b dh isn’t a need. Can Turner still play 3b I dunno and not looking it up.
Gotta look at the new trade.
Sounds like Boston could use both Flaherty and Skubal……
I think this was a very smart trade. The Sox are loaded with middle infield prospects. Priester seems to have filthy breaking stuff which fits in nicely with Bailey’s coaching. Priester will be a solid rotation member by next year.
For the hitters, it’s going to be a Priester famine.
The Fans have been screaming for more pitchers.They have brought in a bunch.They didn’t want to trade Yorke for this guy.WHY wouldn’t they trade Mayer plus for Skubal?People have been clamoring for a good pitcher.He is supposed to be the best right now.
Anytime I hear “plus”, I shake my head. For a guy like Skubal, you need to list real players. We aren’t pulling a few names out of our top-20 and landing this guy. They have to be real and reasonably current prospects.