Do Boston Red Sox Have Another Big Move in Them Ahead of Trade Deadline?
Are more upgrades to come for Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and the Red Sox?
Video Transcript
What's up, everybody?
Zach Coe here for Roundtable.
The Red Sox made the first move of the trade deadline season, acquiring infielder Curtis Mead from the Washington Nationals on Saturday night in exchange for rookie starter Connelly Early.
And it was a little bit of an underwhelming start to trade deadline season for the Red Sox, who had been linked to stars like CJ Abrams and Jeremy Pea, Shea Langeliers or Hunter Goodman.
And for many people, myself included, I thought to myself, "Well, that takes them out of the running for all those big names."
But according to Jared Carrabas of the Section Ten podcast, just because the Red Sox acquired Mead, that doesn't mean that they're out of the running for names like CJ Abrams in a separate deal with the Nationals.
Of course, they've been linked to Zach Netto of the Los Angeles Angels.
And to me, this would be a really big move for the Red Sox.
They had already moved Connelly Early, who in my estimation, was one of their bigger trade chips between him and Jake Bennett, a fellow rookie lefty.
And I had always assumed that if the Red Sox were gonna go out there and make a big splash and land one of those big names, that one of Bennett or Early would be involved.
Now, with Early out of the picture, you really only have a handful of trade chips to deal from, whether it be your top organizational prospect, Franklin Arias, who currently ranks as Baseball America's number three prospect in the sport, or pitchers Anthony Ianson and Kyson Witherspoon.
You really have a limited number of assets to deal from.
So a move to land one of the superstar controllable bats would really empty your coffers, and you really have to be selective about who you're going after in that type of situation.
Because you have the ninth ranked farm system in baseball right now, but it's definitely seen as a little bit top-heavy and very pitcher heavy with a lot of your hitting prospects having some questions about their contact, being power first guys that have questionable hit tools.
So if you're gonna go out and land a CJ Abrams or a Zach Netto or even a Jeremy Pea, who according to all the recent reporting, isn't gonna be moved ahead of the deadline, you're really emptying your coffers and placing a lot of faith in your player development system to elevate your farm system.
Because if you move, whether it be Arias or Ianson or Witherspoon, you're talking about taking away some of the two or three premier talents from your organization, and that'll probably drop you down pretty far in the farm system rankings whenever the next update comes from Baseball America.
So you have to be very sure about the guy that you're acquiring.
But it's at least encouraging to hear that Breslow isn't willing to continue to dip into those coffers to make not only the 2026 Red Sox better, but the 2027 and beyond team better.
Whether it be Abrams, Netto, or a name that we're not even talking about right now, it remains to be seen if the Red Sox will make another major splash in the lineup or if they'll instead turn their attention to the bullpen and starting rotation, which Breslow said would all be a focus for the Red Sox in the week leading up to the deadline.
But it's all something to keep an eye on as the week progresses.
