The Boston Red Sox emptied out the prospect closet with a series of deals by Dave Dombrowski. Just how are those prospects doing? How are those deals looking?
Just what are the best trades in baseball? For far too many fans the best means you have “won” the deal when your player(s) acquired outperform those that you traded or have been instrumental in positioning your team for a strong playoff run or the ultimate – a World Series championship. Unfortunately, that is an incorrect approach.
The best trades are the ones that prove successful for both teams. That may take several years to analyze, but that is the goal of any transaction. Both parties walk away with what they want and the players exchanged eventually reach their expected promise. The Boston Red Sox have made three notable transactions all involving pitching – Chris Sale, Craig Kimbrel, Drew Pomeranz and Tyler Thornburg.
The Red Sox moved prospects in all three deals and within each package were a promise that may or may not reach their full potential. Now for a look at just how the players shipped out have done to reflect on whether or not these deals would have been done in retrospect.