The Boston Red Sox badly needed a win in the early going of the offseason with all the talent they’re slated to lose as well as the lack of confidence the fanbase has in the team’s ownership group, which has clearly influenced Chaim Bloom’s decision making poorly.
Well, hey, they got a win on Wednesday, but through no effort of their own. The Red Sox watched a slugger who routinely dominates them waltz to the west coast.
In what was speculated a day prior, the Toronto Blue Jays traded outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for … it doesn’t matter! Hernandez will only now face the Red Sox six times instead of 13. Boston fans will take that.
It seems Toronto has a desire to improve their bullpen/farm system and move George Springer out of center field, if we’re to understand their dealings with the M’s.
Hernandez is an All-Star outfielder who averaged 26 home runs per season the last four years. He certifiably owned the Sox both at Fenway Park and away from it. The Blue Jays objectively got worse on Wednesday, regardless of the corresponding move(s) to address the loss.
Teoscar Hernández, a career .312/.367/.632 hitter with 22 HR in 71 games (incl 14 HR in 42 games at Fenway) against the Red Sox, has been traded from the Blue Jays to the Mariners, per @JeffPassan.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) November 16, 2022
The Red Sox no longer have to deal with Teoscar Hernandez in the AL East
Enjoy reliever Erik Swanson and the Mariners’ No. 8 pitching prospect Adam Macko, Blue Jays. It’s really hard to see that trade-off being worse for the Sox down the road.
This wasn’t anything new, either. Back in 2019, when Hernandez was in his second full MLB season, 18 of his 44 career home runs came against the Red Sox by mid-July. The stuff of nightmares.
Teoscar Hernandez has 44 career homers.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 18, 2019
10 vs. the Red Sox and 8 at Fenway Park.
Even if the Jays add someone like Brandon Nimmo, it won’t nearly have the same adverse effect at Boston’s expense. And if they miss out on Nimmo, then they really have no viable free agent options. They’ll have to dive back into the trade market (unless there’s a world they steal Aaron Judge from the Yankees, which is unlikely).
Trading for someone like Dylan Carlson or Lars Nootbaar of the St. Louis Cardinals wouldn’t be a bad idea either, but again, they’d have to quickly pick up where Hernandez left off and slug the lights out in MLB’s (arguably) toughest division.
Thanks for downgrading today, Jays. Helps that we didn’t have to do anything to make it happen.
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