Red Sox trade Christian Vázquez to Astros in beginning of sell-off

Red Sox trade Christian Vazquez to Astros while in Houston for 3-game set

After a long day of watching other teams make huge moves, the Boston Red Sox just made one of their own, trading Christian Vázquez to the Houston Astros in exchange for two minor-league prospects. The deal is pending a physical, but with the Sox in Houston for a three-game set, it should be done fairly quickly.

In the words of Tobias Funke, the fire sale has begun.

Though he made his big-league debut after Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts, Vázquez was the longest-tenured player in the organization. The Sox drafted him in the ninth round of the 2008 draft, and he made his debut on July 9, 2014, a few weeks after Mookie Betts.

To make this news all the more heartbreaking, several media members at Minute Maid Park reported that at the time of the trade breaking, Vázquez was still wearing his Sox gear; he had been in Monday night’s lineup. Now, he might be in the Astros’.

When asked about the trade, Vázquez replied, “It’s a business,” but looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Despite not being a big-name superstar like Betts or Rafael Devers, Vázquez is yet another example of an excellent homegrown talent being dealt for an uneven return. He was behind the dish for several Sox postseasons, including 2018, when they decimated his new team in the ALCS.

Vazquez is surely only the first of several dominos to fall. JD Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill, and Michael Wacha are among the Sox players who will be free agents at the end of this year. Bloom will likely try to sell them all.