Boston Red Sox: Top 10 trade value player rankings

Ranking the top players in the Boston Red Sox organization in terms of how much value they would have on the trade market.

Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has a reputation for making bold moves and has never been shy about pulling the trigger on a deal if he believes it can improve his team’s fortunes. Every franchise has certain players they couldn’t imagine parting with, yet no one is truly untouchable if the price is right.

Which players in the Red Sox organization hold the most trade value? Unlike the Most Valuable Player debate, which is based on the outcome of a particular season, trade value is measured by other factors that project future expectations. If you’re trading for a player based solely on what he’s done for his previous team rather than what he can do for you now then you’ve already lost the deal.

Obviously talent is key, so that gets weighted more heavily than other factors, but that’s not all that we need to consider. Here are the rules for these rankings.

Contracts matter: Mike Trout may have edged out Mookie Betts for the MVP, but despite being only a year older than the Red Sox superstar outfielder, Trout is scheduled to earn north of $20 million next season while Betts still hasn’t reached arbitration eligibility. Trout is worth every cent he makes, but Betts is one of the top bargains in the game, giving him more trade value.

Age is more than just a number: Teams in win-now mode may be more willing to go all in on a veteran that can provide immediate improvement, but generally younger players that will be around longer have more value in a trade. Older players are more likely to hit the decline phase of their careers, therefore they aren’t quite as valuable.

Not all positions are created equal: Position scarcity makes some spots more difficult to fill than others, while the up the middle positions are more valuable than the corners.

Roster check: While there is tremendous value to be found in the Red Sox farm system, for the purposes of this exercise we are focused on only those players that are on the 40-man roster.

Keep in mind that this is not a list of the most likely players to be traded, but rather a ranking of which players would bring the greatest bounty in return. The list runs in reverse order, so the player on the next slide doesn’t have quite as much value as the next guy on the list and the last slide is dedicated to the Red Sox player with the most trade value.