Trade Season Starts For The Red Sox As Enrique Hernandez Gets Flipped Back To The Dodgers

 

    There is a week left before the MLB Trade Deadline (August 1) so it was about time that Red Sox chief baseball officer (the nerdiest title of all-time) Chaim Bloom logged off his computer for a minute and made an actual baseball trade. This afternoon's move was not a blockbuster by any means but at least it was something as Boston (53-47 overall) sent utilityman Kike Hernandez back to where he came from-the Dodgers (57-42)-for a pair of minor league pitchers (Justin Hagenman and Nick Robertson) and $2.5 million cash considerations. Hernandez played six seasons in LA before playing 2.5 seasons here in Boston. This reunion had been rumored since last week and with infielder Pablo Reyes activated yesterday plus shortstop Trevor Story expected to make his season debut shortly, Hernandez was the odd man out. 

    Besides a crazy heater during the 2021 postseason, Kike's Red Sox stay was pretty forgettable. He began this season as Boston's starting shortstop but that was a complete disaster as he made 14 errors and eventually lost the job in mid-June. He is a good defensive outfielder but there was not really a place for him there in this current Red Sox roster and his offense had also gone off of a cliff (.222/.279/.320) with six home runs and 31 RBIs. Red Sox manager and fellow Puerto Rican Alex Cora is a big fan of Hernandez but I am sure that Kike will be happy to return to LA where he still owns a home. 

    It is doubtful that he will get a ton of playing time with the loaded Dodgers who are still one of the top teams in baseball but that is where he won a World Series title in 2020 and there are still a bunch of teammates from that time that he is probably close to. Now we wait to see if Bloom will invest further in this up-and-down team with more substantial moves or if he stays with his usual middling trades like this. I certainly do not believe in this group who entered tonight's series opener vs. Atlanta (64-34 overall) 2.5 games behind Toronto (56-45 overall) for the third and final AL Wild Card. However, the third AL Wild Card winner will likely face the AL Central winner which figures to be the Twins (54-48 overall) or Guardians (49-51 overall)-two similarly mediocre teams to the Red Sox. 

    The bottom line is that this is a huge MLB Trade Deadline and regular season for Bloom who is in his fourth season here. If the Red Sox do not make the playoffs, he should be fired. Enough of running a big market team like they are the Rays (61-42 overall). The last time I checked, Tampa Bay has never won a World Series title so who cares that they can win a bunch of meaningless regular season games on a tiny budget. Boston should be in the mix for Shohei Ohtani and every other star player that is available via trade this next week or in free agency over the winter. If the past is any indication though, Bloom is too infatuated with his own prospects-many of whom will never amount to anything, that is just a fact in baseball-to make any notable transactions. Boston is one of the few good baseball markets left in the U.S. but with so little star power on the Red Sox, it has been very hard to get into the club for most of Bloom's tenure except for the (lucky?) 2021 campaign. We all deserve a better product on the field than this and a better baseball decisionmaker than him.

After Almost Two Seasons Of Buffoonery, The Red Sox Finally Got A Real First Baseman-Eric Hosmer

 

    Today the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline came and went with the Red Sox (53-52 overall) thankfully making one final important move: they acquired first baseman Eric Hosmer (a four-time Gold Glover!), two minor leaguers and cash considerations from the Padres (60-46 overall) for minor league LHP Jay Groome. The back story is that Hosmer was supposed to be involved with the blockbuster Juan Soto trade from the Nationals (36-69 overall) but he used his no-trade clause to reject a move to DC. This allowed Boston's chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom to swoop in and obtain the 32-year-old Hosmer with San Diego footing the rest of his contract. It was a move that would make Patriots head coach Bill Belichick proud in the way that Bloom was able to get a quality player and still make someone else pay for him.

    Boston's lack of a true first baseman had become a complete embarrassment these last few years. No more being forced to watch Franchy Cordero or Bobby Dalbec stumbling around trying to play a position that neither could handle at all. Hosmer was an All-Star in 2016 and he helped win the 2015 World Series with the Royals. The Padres had also picked up first baseman Josh Bell (who reportedly had been a Red Sox trade target) in the Soto deal so this left Hosmer as the odd man out for what is now one of the best teams in baseball. You cannot blame him for rejecting a move to Washington since the Nationals are going to be rebuilding for years to come. It's not like the Red Sox are exactly World Series contenders at the moment but at least he goes to a market and team that matters so if he plays well, he can set himself up for one last nice contract in MLB before he retires.

    Going back to his days with Kansas City, Hosmer (the No. 3 overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft) had long been rumored to be coveted by Boston. On a personal note, he is married to former NESN sideline reporter and host Kacie McDonnell who is currently pregnant with their first child. In 90 games this season with the Padres, Hosmer was hitting .272/.336/.391 with eight HRs and 40 RBIs. He has a reputation as a leader and a good clubhouse guy which Boston certainly needs more of both of those things these days. He won't be a Hall of Famer but he has put together a notable career in MLB, hitting a career-high 25 homers in both 2015 and 2016 with a career-best 104 RBIs in his All-Star season (when he was also the All-Star Game MVP). He even won the Silver Slugger for the American League first basemen in 2017 and for his career, his batting splits are .277/.336/.429. The Christian Vazquez trade to Houston (67-38 overall) doesn't make a ton of sense although the former Red Sox catcher admitted that he'd be open to returning here this winter in free agency but at least Boston drastically improved its biggest weakness-first base-with the addition of a fine pro like Hosmer.

On The Eve Of The MLB Trade Deadline, The Red Sox Flipped Christian Vazquez To The Astros

 

    With the Red Sox (52-52 overall, 26-25 road) firmly going nowhere this season, they finally started to make some notable moves with the MLB Trade Deadline now less than 24 hours away (Tuesday night at 6 pm EST). Ironically, they opened a three-game series tonight in Houston (67-37 overall, 33-16 home) and actually beat the Astros 3-2 but the move that the Red Sox made right before the game was particularly memorable since it involved catcher Christian Vazquez going to Houston. The homegrown catcher who is having a career-year offensively, was dealt for a pair of minor leaguers: infielder Enmanuel Valdez and outfielder Wilyer Abreu. I will not pretend to know anything about either of those guys but apparently, they are both supposed to be pretty good (at the Triple A and Double A levels respectively). 

    He nearly made his first All-Star team this season as the 31-year-old Vazquez is batting .282/.327/.432 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs. Heading into free agency this winter, he was an obvious asset to use since catcher is one of Houston's only weaknesses as they seek another World Series title. It's a good move personally for him since he will get to go for his second championship and cash in after he helped Boston win the 2018 World Series. The scary part for the Red Sox is that they have absolutely no other decent catcher at the Major League level (haha Kevin Plawecki is the definition of a terrible backup catcher at best in MLB) or in chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom's beloved farm system. The role of catcher has become pretty irrelevant at least offensively as evidenced by the fact that Vazquez is one of the better hitting catchers in the game these days. He was known much more for his defensive prowess when he made his Red Sox debut in 2014 but as the years have gone on, his bat has gotten way better (in 2019 he topped out with 23 HRs and 72 RBIs). 

    In the other two much less important moves of the day, Boston acquired outfielder Tommy Pham from the Reds for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Also, they traded their crappy lefty reliever Jake Diekman to the White Sox for a backup catcher who stinks named Reece McGuire. Rumors have swirled for weeks with Boston's season going down the drain that starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (who pitched really well tonight) and designated hitter J.D. Martinez are the other biggest names that could be moved before the deadline now that (thankfully) third baseman Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts are both said to be off the table. The addition of a third Wild Card team in the playoffs makes some people want to believe that the Red Sox are still in it since they are only three games out of that last spot but if you've watched this team at all in 2022, there is a reason (or rather many) that they are in last place in the AL East.

    Nobody needs a better deadline than Bloom since the shine has quickly come off of him in what has all the makings of a lost season. From what we can tell (since we rarely see that robot or hear from him), he still thinks that he works for the Tampa Bay Rays and operates on a shoestring budget with a media and fan base that is non-existent and therefore does not care. Baseball in general and the Red Sox certainly are not what they used to be in terms of relevance both nationally and locally but this is one of the few markets where it does still matter. With their basically unlimited payroll, Boston should never be this average (if you're being nice) or fatally flawed. It is wonderful that he has built their minor league clubs up (apparently) but so far, many of his top prospects have performed like far from gamechangers when they have finally reached the Red Sox. The Dodgers have also proven lately that you can be a World Series contender every year while still fielding a great farm system as well. Losing Vazquez stings and he is another guy (much like Kyle Schwarber with the Phillies and Hunter Renfroe with the Brewers this season) who will immediately do well on another better team than Boston. The clock is ticking on Bloom, he has to turn things around soon or else they will need to go in another direction ASAP before things get damaged any further.

With Hours To Go Until The Trade Deadline, Sox Finally Did Something: Trading For Kyle Schwarber

 

    I don't know about you but I will admit that I was getting pretty antsy tonight since tomorrow's MLB Trade Deadline (4 pm ET) was quickly approaching and the Red Sox (63-41 overall) still hadn't made a single deal while many other playoff and World Series contenders like them were quite busy. Thankfully that all changed late this evening as Red Sox chief baseball nerd Chaim Bloom woke up from his slumber and actually did something productive: he flipped some 20-year-old pitcher named Aldo Ramirez (ranked the club's #19 prospect by MLB Pipeline) to the Nationals for left fielder Kyle Schwarber. You might remember him as a key part of the 2016 World Series champion Cubs and he was also the hottest player in baseball earlier this season before he strained his right hamstring on July 2. To make room on the 40-man roster, Boston designated reliever Brandon Workman for assignment. 

    Technically, Schwarber is a rental since he will be a free agent after 2021 who figures to make a boatload of money because he was an All-Star this summer for the first time in his career and he's hitting .253/.340/.570 with 25 home runs and 53 RBIs. He originally started out as a catcher but almost exclusively in the past five seasons, he has been a full-time left fielder (playing his entire career in the National League). Boston's outfield is currently pretty full with Alex Verdugo in left, Jarren Duran in center and Hunter Renfroe in right not to mention J.D. Martinez is primarily a DH so where does that leave Schwarber to play? A new first baseman is arguably the biggest need for the Red Sox so perhaps they hope to have Schwarber try and fill that black hole. 

    Boston lacked lefty hitters so at the very least, Schwarber should immediately help to fix that. He will never win a batting title (his career batting average is .233, yuck) but he has legit power which is hard to find: 146 HRs and 332 RBIs in 623 games. Kyle also has a proven track record of postseason success where he has hit .288/.405/.576 with six homers and 11 RBIs in 24 playoff games. He has reached 25+ home runs four times in seven MLB seasons (6 with Chicago, 1 with Washington) with his best year being 2019 with 38 HRs, 92 RBIs and .250/.339/.531. He strikes out a ton (679 times in 2071 career at bats) so we'll need to get used to that but what do you expect from a guy that's shaped like a fire hydrant at six-feet-tall and 229 pounds? He is in the prime of his career at the age of 28 and the former first-round draft pick (4th overall in 2014) will want to cash in after he bet on himself and signed a modest one-year deal (worth $7 million) last winter with the Nationals. 

    This was a nice start for Bloom and hopefully he continues to work the phone lines tomorrow morning and afternoon to find a true first baseman, a reliever and possibly a starting pitcher as well. Over the last few days, many top MLB reporters had mentioned that the Red Sox were in on Nationals ace Max Scherzer (who is now going to the Dodgers in a blockbuster trade) and Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo (headed to the Yankees, ugh) and while they missed out on both of those guys, Schwarber is better than a consolation prize. Assuming that he's not a complete disaster these next few months in Boston, he would be another nice piece to help Bloom build a World Series contender year after year. We are not sure exactly when he will make his Red Sox debut, they have a huge three-game series at Tampa Bay (61-42 overall)-who is only 1.5 games back with a game in hand-starting tomorrow night (7:10, NESN)-but he has been lightly jogging and taking batting practice lately so it should not be too far away. 

UPDATE 7/30/21:  Welp, the Red Sox made two other trades today but they were for a pair of awful relievers: righty Hansel Robles was acquired from the Twins for minor league righty Alex Scherff and infielder Michael Chavis went to Pittsburgh (poor bastard) for lefty Austin Davis. 

The Red Sox Choose To Only Make Two More Small Moves Before The MLB Trade Deadline Passes

 

    Going into today's MLB Trade Deadline, I think that most sane Red Sox (12-23) fans wanted them to consider offers for anybody currently on the team not named Xander Bogaerts or Rafael Devers. While the last few weeks have brought some interesting trade rumors involving many of Boston's veteran players (J.D. Martinez, Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Nathan Eovaldi and Christian Vazquez to name a few) those guys all still remain on the team for the rest of this pointless season. The Red Sox farm system has been a mess for years and while they addressed that a bit with the Workman/Hembree and Moreland trades in the past week, it felt like there was more work to be done to bring in more young talent.  

    The only other moves made by the Red Sox' Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom were trading outfielder Kevin Pillar to Colorado for a player to be named or cash considerations and 2019-20 international slot money. Bloom also dumped an awful reliever named Josh Osich-who I'd be shocked if you've ever heard of this nobody-to the Cubs for a player to be named or cash considerations. As a 31-year-old that signed here on Valentine's Day, Pillar was never destined to stay in a Red Sox uniform for very long. He's a borderline Gold Glove candidate every year and he actually got off to a pretty decent start at the plate in 2020, hitting .274/.325/.796 (which are all above his career averages) with four home runs, 13 RBIs and 20 runs with 32 hits in 117 at bats.

    I didn't expect much of a return for Pillar but the fact that the Red Sox got anything for Osich is a minor miracle. Boston got back on the losing track this evening with a 6-3 setback against Atlanta (20-14) in their series opener at Fenway Park. The possibility of some juicy trades made the last few weeks somewhat fun for the Red Sox but for these last 25 games of the regular season, I genuinely have no valid reason for why you should pay any attention to them-not that you were in the first place-anytime soon.