Red Sox: What the Ian Kinsler trade means for the minors

The Boston Red Sox cleaned up second base by trading for Ian Kinsler. They lost two solid prospects in the move however. What does this mean for the minors?

In Ian Kinsler, the Boston Red Sox received a second baseman who is elite defensively and no slouch at the plate. This effectively fixes a major position of weakness due to the Dustin Pedroia injury. However, the Red Sox didn’t just get Kinsler for free. Boston sent pitching prospects Ty Buttrey and Williams Jerez to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in return.

Both Buttrey and Jerez were top-30 prospects for the Red Sox. Neither had made an appearance in the Majors. Both, however, were looking fantastic in Triple-A this season.

Buttrey is having a career-year. The 25-year-old left-hander has a 2.25 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched. Meanwhile, opponents are hitting just .216 against Buttrey.

The fantastic numbers made it that much more surprising that Buttrey never got called to the Boston. Needing bullpen help was constantly mentioned when talking about the Red Sox. Here they had someone dominating in Triple-A – who was on the 40-man roster – ready for the call. That never happened, however.

There are two ways to look at this. Buttrey has obviously been fantastic this year. Prior to 2018 though, his career has been rocky. Since 2013, Buttrey has had one sub-4.00 ERA season – and it was a 3.92 in 2015. He also hasn’t had a batting average against below .250 since 2013.

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You could say that he’s playing above his talent in 2018, or that he’s finally put it all together. Either way the Red Sox have lost an extremely intriguing arm in their minors.

Jerez isn’t having as dominant of a 2018 as Buttrey, but he’s still been fantastic. More importantly, however, is the fact that Jerez has been consistently strong in the minors throughout his career.

The 26-year-old left-hander has a 3.63 ERA on the year, and that’s actually the second worst of his career. In 2016, Jerez posted a 4.71 ERA in a full season at Double-A. Other than that, his ERA has sat in the low-3.00s and mid-2.00s.

Jerez is intriguing because he’s never exactly kept his BAA very low, but it’s never reflected in his ERA. This is due to a solid strikeout rate and low home run totals.

Meanwhile, this also pushes the Red Sox past the final luxury tax threshold. Therefore, they’re going to receive the worst penalty, which is more money – and being pushed down 10 spots in the 2019 draft. So while Boston loses two prospects immediately, they’ll also miss out on some top talent in next year’s draft.

This could be rough, but maybe the Red Sox will get their guy anyways.

Both Buttrey and Jerez are right on the cusp of the Majors. With that in mind, it’s easy to say they could’ve helped the Red Sox bullpen this year.

However, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where either would be trusted enough for high-leverage situations. No matter how good they’ve been in the minors, giving a rookie an important role this late in the season is unlikely-at-best. That means the probably wouldn’t factor into a World Series run much.

Instead, the Red Sox decided to flip the two for a proven second baseman to help their defense and bottom-of-the-order. That World Series run? Yeah, Kinsler can very much be a serious factor in that.

Looking back on this trade could tell a different story. Both Buttrey and Jerez look to have bright futures as left-handed relievers. That’s a position that’s highly-coveted in baseball. For now, it was a necessary move for a team in the hunt for a World Series title.