Red Sox Dealin’ Dave picked up the phone. And now, Anderson Espinoza is gone.
Every trade has a different outcome for every team involved. Sometimes it takes years to know exactly what kind of players were exchanged, and what team ‘won’ the deal.
Yesterday, the Boston Red Sox brought in 27-year-old Drew Pomeranz, the blue-chip lefty whom the Padres were looking to cash in on. In exchange, Boston sent Baseball America’s 15th ranked prospect, Anderson Espinoza, to San Diego. The 18-year-old is still in Low-A ball, but was flat-out dominant last year and has had flashes of brilliance this season, especially for his young age.
Espinoza has all the stuff that makes scouts drool, and that often amounts for great professional success. He has a fastball that lives in the mid-to-high nineties, and is well on his way to possessing two plus pitches – his curveball and changeup, according to Fangraphs.com. That, coupled with his pin-point command, makes him an incredibly rare and valuable teenager. One whom the Red Sox should have kept in their future plans.
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Just a few days ago, I wrote how Dave Dombrowski needs to “resist the urge” to deal away the Red Sox top prospects. And here we sit today, with the Red Sox top pitching prospect (and arguably only real pitching prospect) soon headed in the sky to the sunny West Coast. I guess he didn’t get the memo.
It’s complicated by the fact the Red Sox are in prime position, for really, the next decade. Sure, the retirement of David Ortiz will hurt next season, but Boston is loaded with talented youth especially in the hitting department. The oldest of this talented bunch, Jackie Bradley Jr., just turned 26 a few months ago. While, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts are both 23, and Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada are 21 and 22 respectively. This is the group (and you can add in Rafael Devers , Sam Travis, and maybe even Blake Swihart) that will carry Boston’s future over the next decade, and whom the Sox need to both build around and supplement with good young pitching.
And here’s where yesterday’s deal comes into play. Now, Drew Pomeranz is not “old” by any means, as at 27 he has just entered his prime. But, for the Red Sox to deal away their top pitching prospect in Espinoza, shows both a lack of commitment to the future Red Sox flag bearers, and an over-commitment to this years Ortiz farewell tour.
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That’s not to say the Red Sox and Domrowski, shouldn’t have looked to improve their rotation, but they should have done so without giving up one of the “Untouchable Four”. That’s what I liked to call Benintendi, Moncada, Devers, and Espinoza. Just about any trade not involving Jose Fernandez, Giancarlo Stanton, or Mike Trout, I felt Boston should have steered far from involving any of those prospects. They’re just too talented and all had a place in the already forming super-team in Boston.
Not to mention, with the signing of this years first-rounder Jason Groome, they had the of opportunity of having one of baseball’s best 1-2 pitching punches just around the corner.
Futhermore, there were other starters who were available. The Red Sox could have targeted any of the likes of Rich Hill, Ervin Santana, or even the now Dodger Bud Norris, and gotten the fix they needed. Sure, they aren’t as skilled as Pomeranz and the Sox would have had to give up some pieces, but they could have played the perfect bridge to Boston’s up-and-coming youth. And, most of all, they could have held onto all of their Untouchable Four.
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What should excite Red Sox fans the most is their immanent future. And now that Groome did in fact drop his price – all the way to a very reasonable $3.65 million – that future just keeps getting brighter.
A potential 2020 rotation, headlined by the organic duo of Groome and Espinoza, is no longer a reality. And, when that decision comes back to haunt them, the only blame the Sox can place is on themselves. Dealin’ Dave yet again had an itchy trigger finger, and shot down are the ideas this team isn’t willing to sacrifice its most prized possessions.