Heading into Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had a clear shopping list to improve the club’s roster. He wanted a starting pitcher, a right-handed bat and ideally multiple relief pitchers to help fortify the club’s beleaguered bullpen.
Check, check and check.
Breslow was true to his word that the Red Sox would be buyers at the deadline, swinging five trades to help address each of the club’s areas of need. He added left-handed starting pitcher James Paxton to bolster the rotation, catcher Danny Jansen to give the lineup another right-handed bat, 23-year-old starting pitcher Quinn Priestly, who could eventually emerge as a rotation anchor for years to come, and two veteran relievers in Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia who should immediately slot in as high-leverage arms in close, late-inning situations.
Speaking to reporters about an hour after the deadline had passed, Breslow declared that the Red Sox had accomplished what they set out to do.
“Anytime you can go through the deadline with a pretty clearly defined shopping list and walk out feeling like you accomplished it, you feel good about it,” Breslow said. “I think this team has shown they’re more than capable. We’re winning, we have our sights set pretty squarely on the playoffs and deserve some reinforcements.”
The five newcomers didn’t come free. In addition to dealing 2020 first-round pick Nick Yorke on Monday to land Priestly, the Red Sox sent out five more prospects on Tuesday, dealing 19-year-old righty Ovis Portes in exchange for Sims and infielder Matthew Lugo, right-handers Ryan Zeferjahn and Yeferson Vargas and first baseman Niko Kavadas to get Garcia.
Yorke and Lugo ranked as Boston’s No. 12 and 13 prospects, respectively, according to SoxProspects.com, while Zeferjahn had been one of the system’s breakout pitching performers, especially early in the season.
“My guess is we traded a lot of major league talent today,” Breslow said. “But this is where we are and I think the team has shown they deserve to be reinforced.”
While some of the prospects may wind up becoming impactful major leaguers, Breslow was able to draw from areas of surplus without giving up any of Boston’s blue chip players. The moves also should help clear the organization’s middle infield logjam in the upper minors, potentially facilitating the rise of top prospect Marcelo Mayer to Triple-A. On top of that, Yorke, Lugo, Zeferjahn and Kavadas are all due to become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this coming winter, meaning they’d either have to be added to the 40-man roster or risk being left exposed and lost to another club for nothing.
Put it all together, Breslow was able to improve this year’s roster without mortgaging the future in a significant way.
While the Red Sox weren’t able to acquire any of the premier players on the market — no Garrett Crochet, no Tanner Scott — and mostly landed second-half rentals rather than controllable players under contract for multiple years, this year’s trade deadline marked an encouraging pivot for a franchise that has lately been content to sit on the sidelines.
On top of that, the club also acted with urgency, especially after the bullpen began falling apart after the break.
“Thinking about some of the ways that games have played out since the All-Star Break I think there was some urgency about addressing that,” Breslow said. “(We) didn’t feel like waiting for our guys to get healthy was the best path for us.”
Whether all of this week’s moves lead to a playoff berth remains to be seen, but after years of talking about building towards sustained success, the Red Sox are finally acting like a team that’s ready to win. Breslow saw what this team needed and did something about it, and now he’s confident the Red Sox have what they need to survive what should be a grueling playoff chase.
“I think the combination of what we were able to bring over in the last couple of days and some guys getting healthy positions us really well,” Breslow said.