Breathing easier that Xander Bogaerts wasn’t traded, and other Red Sox thoughts
Chad Finn shares nine thoughts on the current state of the 2020 Red Sox...
COMMENTARY
Playing nine innings while assuming a lot of Red Sox fans are going to be rooting for Mitch Moreland and the “Slam Diego” Padres the rest of the way …
1. Our official Red Sox trade deadline summary: I like all of the trades. I thought they’d do more. And there’s one thing I’m really glad they didn’t do.
Had the Red Sox traded Xander Bogaerts — a 27-year-old two-time All-Star who does everything right off the field, signed for a bargain rate, and should be the face of the post-Mookie Red Sox for at least the next half-dozen years — there would have been no logical reason whatsoever for fans to invest any time or faith in this organization.
Bogaerts, like Betts to a slightly lesser degree, is the kind of player and person an organization dreams of discovering and developing; genuine cornerstones like him come along about once a decade.
Had they traded him for prospects — something they shamelessly would have tried to justify by saying it wasn’t fair to keep him around for a rebuild — it would have confirmed that A) they expect to be lousy for the foreseeable future and B) their priorities do not include retaining homegrown stars once they start making some money.
This already is the most boring team they’ve had since probably 1992. At least they didn’t make it worse.
2. There is one Red Sox veteran of some distinction that I was kind of hoping they’d move, providing they got at least a slight overpay prospect-wise in return. I wanted to see the rumors that the Red Sox were talking to the Padres and Mets about Christian Vazquez come true.
I understand he’s valuable because there’s such a dearth of quality catching right now, and he did have a breakout year last season with 23 homers after hitting just 10 in his first four years. But he’s also 30, overrated defensively, and has a .695 OPS this year, up just slightly from his career .689.
His top three statistical comps are uninspiring: Eddie Perez, the former Greg Maddux whisperer with the Braves, and a pair of ex-Red Sox, Lenny Webster and longtime Carlton Fisk caddie Bob Montgomery.
Vazquez is not a star, and he’ll probably be regressing when the Red Sox are competitive again.
3. My favorite deal was the one Chaim Bloom made last week, getting two live arms in Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold from the Phillies for 32-year-old free-agent-to-be Brandon Workman and perennially adequate Heath Hembree. It’s the kind of deal noncontenders covet at the deadline.
I think there’s a decent chance they repair Pivetta, who is homer-prone but has quality stuff, having struck out 421 in 396⅓ innings, and Seabold is legitimately promising even without an especially high ceiling. This deal has a chance to look really good in two or three years.
4. Workman was a fine pitcher here when healthy; he was essential in the 2013 postseason, serving as Koji Uehara’s primary righthanded setup man in the World Series, and he was unexpectedly lights-out last year after injuries robbed him of so much of his prime. (Admit it: You didn’t know he was already 32.)
His was a satisfying story of perseverance, but this was the ideal time to deal him. Heck, last spring, they wouldn’t have received even someone to be Sea Dogs roster-filler for him.
5. The easygoing, clutch Moreland is someone who will be remembered well by Red Sox fans, but he’s almost 35 and of little use in a rebuild. Getting lottery tickets in infielder Hudson Potts and center fielder Jeisson Rosario is an intriguing return, even if they end up being the next coming of Wilton Veras and Jeff McNeely.
Josh Osich (sent to the Cubs) was an undistinguished member of the bullpen carousel, and Kevin Pillar is a decent stick and excellent glove who would be a nice addition in a contending year but is the kind of guy you deal for anything when you’re in the condition the Red Sox are in.
6. Much of Bloom’s approach in this job is to incrementally increase the talent and depth in the organization without raising costs. He did that at the deadline — hey, the Red Sox’ Alternate Site team is a lot more interesting than it was two weeks ago — and I believe one of his greatest strengths will prove to be an ability to find undervalued talent.
But the Sox desperately have to get it right in the draft, too, especially with a high pick coming in 2021. It’s ridiculous that this organization hasn’t developed a legit MLB starting pitcher since Clay Buchholz showed up in 2007. To put it another way: Bloom isn’t finding his next Blake Snell on the waiver wire, you know?
7. The worst season I’m aware of a quality, proven Red Sox player having occurred in 1968, when George Scott hit .171 with a .473 OPS at age 24. Scott, who finished 10th in the AL MVP race for the ’67 Impossible Dreamers, bounced back to have a fine career.
I do hope we can say the same a few years from now regarding Andrew Benintendi, who was hitting .103 with a .442 OPS before going on the disabled list with what looks like a season-ending rib cage injury.
I still believe he’s going to be a fine player for a long time, but the 2020 season is always going to jump out for all the wrong reasons on the back of Benintendi’s baseball card.
8. As much as it might have appeased the fans, the Red Sox were right not to bring back Brock Holt after he got released by the Brewers. His popularity in Boston was well-deserved — he was a hard-working and useful player and a mensch in the community — but he’s not a fit now.
They need to be playing the kids — Michael Chavis, Bobby Dalbec, Jonathan Arauz — as they play out the September string. There’s no reason to make a veteran like Holt part of their present when he’s not going to be part of their future.
9. Here’s J.D. Martinez’s average season in his first two years with the Red Sox: .317/.392/.593, 40 homers, 118 RBIs. Here’s J.D. Martinez’s three-season average with the Houston Astros before he was released before the 2014 season: .251/.300/.387, 8 homers, 42 RBIs.
And here is his 2020 so far, projected to 162 games: .208/.299/.375, 14 homers, 69 RBIs.
It’s not the largest sample, but his struggles have been alarming. It can’t all be due to the limited use of video.
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