Come one, come all! The Boston Red Sox are going out of business (for the year) and (almost) everything must go.
With 24 hours to the August 2 trade deadline, the Sox made a flurry of moves, starting with trading Christian Vázquez across the diamond to the Houston Astros. He was one of several soon-to-be free agents presumed to be dealt before the 6 PM ET cut-off on Tuesday.
Minutes later, they made two unexpected trades. JD Martinez and Nathan Eovaldi, the two most likely trade chips after Vázquez, remain with the team. Jake Diekman is gone, and Reese McGuire and Tommy Pham are joining this ragtag bunch.
Here’s every trade the Sox made on Monday night:
Trade 1: Christian Vázquez to Houston Astros for 2 MiLB prospects
In a stunning pregame shocker, the Sox dealt their longest-tenured player to the Astros in exchange for two prospects, infielder Enmanuel Valdez and outfielder Wilyer Abreu.
Vázquez was in the final season of the three-year deal plus club option that the Sox inked him to in 2018. He’s leaving a sinking ship for a first-place rocket to the postseason.
Valdez is a promising slugger who’s hitting .327/.410/.606 with a 1.016 OPS over 82 games between Double and Triple-A this year. Abreu can play all three outfield spots and also has some pop in his bat, with 15 homers at Double-A this year.