Red Sox Willing To Deal Young Prospects To Bolster Pitching Staff

Boston is not done making moves

Scott Neville | Dec 30, 2023

Red Sox Willing To Deal Young Prospects To Bolster Pitching Staff /

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Boston Red Sox

After a slow start, the Boston Red Sox all of a sudden appear well-positioned to completely revamp their starting pitching group from the top down.

Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made his first notable addition to the rotation when he added Lucas Giolito on Friday night.

One day later, he shipped out left-hander Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves for middle infielder Vaughn Grissom -- a move that is a notable win in a vacuum but leaves the club's defense as a major concern.

Breslow already has a myriad of trades under his belt and appears to want to continue down that path.

"Breslow said Sox need to be ready to deal young prospects to trade for quality, controllable starting pitching," The Boston Globe's Alex Speier tweeted on Saturday.

There had been reports that a potential Teoscar Hernández signing could lead to the Red Sox dealing one of the younger outfielders on the trade block -- Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu or Ceddanne Rafeala. That still could become the case but another avenue has opened.

With Grissom slotted to become the everyday second baseman with six years of team control remaining, Boston's bevy of middle infield prospects is on the table to be moved.

The top of the group includes Marcelo Mayer (No. 1 Red Sox prospect according to MLB Pipeline), Nick Yorke (No. 6), Mikey Romero (No. 7), Nazzan Zanetello (No. 8), Brainer Bonaci (No. 12), Yoeilin Cespedes (No. 14), David Hamilton (No. 19), Chase Meidroth (No. 20), Eddinson Paulino (No. 21) and Franklin Arias (No. 29).

In simpler terms, the Red Sox already had a very deep group of middle infielders and now have both Trevor Story and Grissom expected to man those positions for the years to come.

The top starters with years of control are Miami Marlins' Jesús Luzardo, Chicago White Sox's Dylan Cease and Seattle Mariners' Logan Gilbert.

The Mariners reportedly already shot down the Red Sox's pursuit of controllable starting pitching.

The simplest path would be to win the bidding war for Jordan Montgomery while retaining a stacked infield group for as long as possible -- those chips can be used down the line, potentially at the trade deadline.

That said, there is no reason why Boston should not aim to explore both the top of the free agent and trade markets, which they are in the process of doing.

More MLB: Red Sox, Braves Make Blockbuster Trade Involving Chris Sale In Shocking Move

Published Dec 30, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu