Red Sox Trade For High-Upside Twins Hurler, Clear Roster Spot For Walker Buehler

More wheeling and dealing from the Boston front office

Jul 15, 2023; Oakland, California, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Jovani Moran (71) throws against the Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox needed to dump someone from the 40-man roster to clear space for new acquisition Walker Buehler, and they came up with a fairly nifty way to do so.

After agreeing to a one-year, $21.05 million contract with the two-time Buehler on Monday, Boston had one too many players to officially add Buehler to the roster. They had the same issue earlier in December in trading for Carlos Narvaez, causing them to designate Enmanuel Valdez for assignment.

This time around, the Red Sox made a preemptive trade. And in doing so, they picked up a left-handed reliever with a decent big-league track record.

On Tuesday, the Red Sox acquired lefty Jovani Moran from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for infielder/catcher Mickey Gasper. Hunter Noll of Beyond the Monster was the first to report the deal.

Moran, 27, missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and it is uncertain whether he'll be ready to throw off a mound by the time Spring Training rolls around. But he owns a 4.15 career ERA in 91 big-league innings, including an impressive 2.21 ERA in 2022.

Moran's calling card is his change-up, which he throws over 47% of the time, and he generated an impressive 50.9% whiff rate on the pitch in 2023. His four-seam fastball sits at around 93 miles per hour and has been hit hard throughout his career, so one has to wonder if the Red Sox pitching lab will tweak his primary fastball offering.

Gasper, 29, had played in six minor-league seasons before finally getting the call to the big leagues with the Red Sox in September. Unfortunately, he went 0-for-18 during the final weeks of the Red Sox's season, so he's still looking for that first big-league hit.

Getting a lefty with some big-league success under his belt for an unproven utility player like Gasper seems like a solid proposition for Boston. If Moran makes any impact for the 2025 Red Sox, this deal is a slam-dunk win.

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