Trade 2: Red Sox trade Jake Diekman to White Sox for Reese McGuire
As if the Vázquez trade wasn’t painful enough, the Sox replaced him almost instantly by trading Jake Diekman to the Chicago White Sox for catcher Reese McGuire and either a player to be named later or cash.
The Sox signed Diekman to a two-year deal with a club option for 2024, but he struggled to find his rhythm. While 34 of his 44 appearances with the club were scoreless, the flashes of dominance weren’t enough to overlook his three blown saves and general inconsistency.
McGuire was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 2013 draft and traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in August 2016. He made his big-league debut with the club on September 6, 2018, but now five years into his big-league career, McGuire only has 194 games under his belt.
He’s a mediocre hitter with little power, but a solid defender behind the dish, with +7 DRS this season. But presumably, his biggest appeal to Bloom is that he’s under club control until 2026, as Kevin Plawecki is also a free agent after this season.