Red Sox trade target: Andrew Miller
By Rick McNair
The Red Sox and Yankees rarely trade with one another and is now the time to see if that can change. Boston has prospects and New York has Andrew Miller.
The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have a notorious rivalry that extends far beyond the simple game of round ball. Both cities – and toss in Philadelphia – have been rivals in politics, education, economics and who built the first underground subway (Boston). The territorial give and take has existed for centuries.
The Yankees have Andrew Miller on their payroll and it is an addition that gives me a sigh every time I look at holds or exotic metrics – WAR 1.4,16.01 K/0, 1.19 BB/9, .246 BABIP, 1.03 xFIP and his LOB% is 100 percent clean. Just how would that look in a Red Sox uniform?
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Boston and New York rarely negotiate any swaps, but primarily rely on poaching talent from each other, with New York having a decided advantage over the years. Back in another age, it was a disaster. The 1923 World Champion Yankees had Everett Scott, Wally Schang, Joe Dugan and Babe Ruth in their lineup. Guess where they came from?
The staff had Bullet Joe Bush, Waite Hoyt, Sad Sam Jones and Herb Pennock – four of five starters that all came from – take a wild guess – Boston! Oh, do they owe us!
The idea of any deals between Boston and New York is as likely as my gathering in a winning Mega Millions ticket, but stranger things have happened. Occasionally a baseball partnership will take place within the division when it is mutually beneficial and business sometimes will win out over a blood feud.
The Yankees have gone a consistent step forward and step backward for the season. Get to .500 and then lose a few and start all over again. The rumor mill has been flushed with New York possibly being in a mood to sell – a rare situation indeed and so un-Steinbrenner like. My assumption is New York will not be selling as long as hope exists to sneak into the playoffs, but I won’t discount the possibility of being sellers and not buyers.
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Names have been bandied about as the Yankees look to get a wee bit of youth and promise into their organization with C.C. Sabathia and Carlos Beltran both prominently mentioned. Also is their triumvirate of relievers and that means Miller, Dellin Betances and soon to be free agent Aroldis Chapman. An extremely talented trio.
Miller – the flame tossing 31-year-old lefty – is signed through 2018 and the money is certainly no object for Boston, but the talent exchange would be. Just what would New York want? My guess is you will see names like Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Anderson Espinoza and just about anyone else that has a stamp of potential future stardom.
Red Sox exec Dave Dombroski is certainly not shy about unloading prospects and that has been clearly demonstrated with the Craig Kimbrel deal and the action of the last few days. DD is quite familiar with Miller since the Tigers drafted Miller and then shipped him out in a deal. Maybe time to close that circle with DD?
Miller is solid as it gets and would be enough to potentially put the Red Sox bullpen into a status of fear instead of feast – as in opposing hitters feasting on whoever surfaces. And with the sudden loss of Kimbrel, Koji Uehara feeling 41-years-old and Junichi Tazawa having some shoulder aches it may be time for negotiations that would be the Paris Peace Talks of baseball.
If the Yankees Brian Cashman and Dombrowski could negotiate such a move it would be the baseball version of Richard Nixon heading to China in 1972. Sometimes need can trump animosity and this could be such a case.
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Will this happen? What would you give for odds? Maybe the Mega Millions is a better option? Then comes the negotiations over what prized prospects would leave Boston, but the addition of Miller could vault Boston into the playoffs. And the fun we would have with in The Big Apple and the Athens of The Universe.