In addition to the trade talks with the Marlins, there were other potential deals discussed during this simulation.
Signing Martinez in free agency was my top priority but if the bidding for him got out of control I was prepared to drop out and pivot toward another path to find a home run hitter. The Red Sox don’t have much left in the farm system to trade but there were some offers floated for attainable power bats.
The Baltimore Orioles offered Chris Davis, but I had no interest in the strikeout machine. His home run totals and OPS have dipped drastically over the last three years since he signed a massive contract extension with the O’s that still owes him $115 million over the next five years. That’s essentially what I paid for Martinez, a far better hitter.
The Oakland A’s offered Khris Davis, who has posted back-to-back 40+ homer seasons. He would have been an appealing DH option if signing Martinez hadn’t panned out. We never got too deep into discussing a deal while waiting for the free agency results but it would have taken a package centered around Sam Travis to pry Davis out of Oakland. That’s a reasonable price for a player entering his second year of arbitration and under control for two more seasons. If I paired that deal with signing Hosmer to play first base then Travis would have been expendable.
Trading with the Chicago White Sox turned out well for Boston last year so I went back to them again asking about Jose Abreu. We seemed to be closing in on an agreement that would have been contingent on whether or not the Red Sox could sign Martinez. I couldn’t afford both and preferred signing a free agent over trading away premium assets. Southside Showdown ended up extending Abreu to a five-year, $105 million deal, which ended our trade talks.
There were several teams that inquired about the availability of Bradley, including the Royals and Giants. I was only open to moving JBJ if I needed to create space in the outfield for the power bat we needed or to free payroll space to add a second free agent.
Other than the Ozuna talks with the Marlins that fell apart, teams were only offering prospects in return for Bradley and no blue-chip talents were on the table. I felt it was best to hang on to Bradley unless my other moves forced my hand.