Red Sox find value at trade deadline, hold on to core players

The Boston Red Sox made some minor moves at the trade deadline.

We didn’t get the big splash that some expected at the trade deadline but the Boston Red Sox made a couple of moves to find value for players who weren’t going to be a part of their future.

According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Red Sox have sent outfielder Kevin Pillar to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a player to be named later and 2019-2020 international slot money.

The return might not seem like much but it’s a savvy move by Chaim Bloom to extract anything of value for a player who was signed only for this year. Pillar was probably moving on when his contract expired after this season and the Red Sox were able to flip him for a future asset. That will probably be a prospect who isn’t currently in the Rockies 60-man player pool so we might not find out who it is until the offseason.

The international bonus money is an appealing inclusion to this deal. Boston only had about $60K in bonus money remaining. It’s unclear how much they will be getting from Colorado but it should allow the Red Sox to sign a young player on the international market. Boston has had great success in the past with this path to finding talent, with Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers serving as prime examples.

The Rockies already had impressive outfield depth but they were extremely heavy on left-handed hitters at the position. Pillar provides them with a right-handed bat to complement them with and they will need his defensive skills to cover the spacious outfield at Coors Field.

The Red Sox are now thin on options to fill the outfield beyond Jackie Bradley Jr. and Alex Verdugo. Andrew Benintendi will complete the trio when he returns from the injured list. In the meantime, Boston may be forced to utilize the versatility of Tzu-Wei Lin and Michael Chavis, infielders with the ability to passably fill in at a corner outfield spot. J.D. Martinez might see more time in the outfield, although hopefully that won’t happen too frequently considering his limitations with the glove and the risk of injury.

It might be time to give promising prospect Jarren Duran a look at the big league level. The speedy outfielder has impressed at the team’s alternate site in Pawtucket and there’s room for him on the roster. Why not let him get his feet wet against major league pitching and use the remainder of this season to evaluate if he’s the answer for one of the outfield spots next year?

The only other move that the Red Sox made on deadline day was shipping left-handed reliever Josh Osich to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later. The Red Sox picked up Osich as a waiver claim back in November and he posted a 5.74 ERA over 13 appearances. The fact that they managed to get anything of value for him is a win for Bloom.

Boston had already made a couple of trades earlier this month, sending Mitch Moreland to San Diego while Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree landed in Philadelphia.

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The Red Sox were rumored to be listening to offers on everyone from Bogaerts to Christian Vazquez. The uncertainty over the opt-out clause in Martinez’s contract made him a candidate to be dealt a the deadline. Ultimately, they ended up keeping these core players, which suggests they aren’t interested in blowing up the roster and intend to contend again in the near future.

The biggest surprise was that Bradley Jr. wasn’t traded. He’ll be a free-agent after the season and Boston’s brass hasn’t even hinted about discussing an extension. Have they reconsidered trying to re-sign him? Perhaps the cheaper Pillar was simply easier to move.

Fans might be disappointed that the Red Sox were sellers at the deadline and discouraged that doing so didn’t land them a highly-touted prospect or address the rotation concerns. The truth is that their spot in the standings made it obvious that they had to sell and they were never getting a top prospect for the players they were willing to give up.

Bloom approached this deadline wisely. He was willing to listen to offers with a mentality that nobody is untouchable but he didn’t hold a fire sale of the team’s best players for the sake of making moves. Only those who aren’t expected to be around for the long-term were deemed expendable. They moved some players they were bound to lose after the season anyway, picked up some assets and opened roster spots they can use to evaluate some of their young talent.