Red Sox: Grading Dave Dombrowski’s deals that shaped the 2018 season

Chris Sale switches Sox from Chicago to Boston for mega-package including Michael Kopech & Yoan Moncada plus Victor Diaz & Luis Alexander Basabe

Luis Alexander Basade has done well in the minors and at 21 years old, he’s still got a couple of years before being major league ready. The major concern with him is getting on base more and trying to cut down on the strike out numbers which are still high at the lower stages of the minor league farm system. Again, he’s 21, plenty of time to see what happens.

Diaz has done nothing noteworthy while Michael Kopech has done the antithesis of that. After blowing through the minors, Kopech racked up 172 punch outs in a combined 134 1/3rd innings of work between AA and AAA. The total walks of 65 in that span is slightly alarming. If the control factor can work itself into the picture to go along with a 100+ mph fastball, you can expect this flamethrower to be in the league for years to come.

More from Red Sox News

• How realistic are the Boston Red Sox/Chris Sale trade rumors?
• Giants’ desperation post-Carlos Correa debacle highlights Red Sox’ lack of urgency
• Dave Dombrowski reunites with former Red Sox ace on Phillies
• 10 grievances against the Boston Red Sox in honor of Seinfeld holiday Festivus
• Red Sox risk repeating rookie mistake with Eric Hosmer release

Kopech managed to go 1 – 1 in 2018 in four starts before getting derailed with a major injury. Kopech tore his right ulnar collateral ligament which required Tommy John surgery putting him on the shelf for the 2019 season. His next chance will come in 2020. It’s possible he makes the starting rotation although we hope he can rehab in the minors and then come out throwing fire for many years to come.

The final, and at the time the most important piece of the trade, was prized star Yoan Moncada. Moncada started off on fire at the age of 21 in 2016 going 4/10 with one double, three singles, a run knocked in and three runs scored. He also struck out three times in that span. Moncada followed that up by going 0-for-9 with 9 strikeouts, raising questions if he was major league ready.

The Red Sox were inquiring about Chris Sale in Chicago and the package would have meant that Moncada would get moved.

Moncada has posted a combined .234/25/83/15 in two seasons in Chicago. Moncada will enter 2019 as an almost 24-year old and won’t hit arbitration until 2021. After getting paid just $555K in 2018, Moncada will be a steal for the club even after arbitration hits and won’t get a major payday for himself until after 2023 has come and gone unless Chicago pays for him through his arbitration years. Chicago lucked out with plenty of time left on his legs, they gave up a pitcher who has been unfortunately injured a couple times in his career.

With the Red Sox willing to make the move, Sale was on his way to Boston and was eventually traded prior to the 2017 season. Sale was lights out to start the 2017 season and returned in 2018 to lead Boston to it’s first World Series Title in five seasons. With Boston picking up his second team option for a very team friendly $13.5 million dollar option, the Red Sox will enjoy his services for at the very least one more great year.

While Sale has experienced late season issues with fatigue, there is no question that Boston can’t win the World Series in 2018 without his help. Sale in two seasons compiled silly numbers. With a 29 – 12 record in 59 starts with 77 walks and 545 strike outs in 372 1/3rd innings of work, good enough for a 13.2 K/9 Ratio. Those are video game numbers. While his production wasn’t as pretty in September in 2017, the Sox were smart to rest him in 2018 prior to their postseason run.

The Red Sox did not want to have the same thing happen two years in a row with their star pitcher on the shelf during the most important part of the season. Boston won a franchise best 108 wins in 2018 to total up 119 including the postseason. The Sox were the best team in baseball this year and a large reason for that was due in part to the expertise and flat-out dominance by the side arm throwing left-hander. Few pitchers have a slider as nasty as Sale.

Still, we have to wonder, how do we evaluate this trade? One player didn’t do anything, one has some potential, and two have the chance to be franchise players leading the team to potentially multiple postseason runs. Does Sale stay in Boston? More importantly to answering that question is, can Sale stay healthy? While the Sox are guaranteed one more season of Sale, they will still have over $19 million due to dead contracts.

Is it worth paying someone heading into his age 30 season? The Sox will have a payroll of $92.346 million before being able to consider Sale and a plethora of other major players that are due major contracts. Only time will tell if Sale can stay healthy or if he can remain with the Red Sox long term and perhaps maybe, if he plays his cards right, for the rest of his career.

How do we evaluate GM Dave Dombrowski for this move? Well considering we got Sale for only three seasons guaranteed, we’re left with this.