The Red Sox should keep Marcelo Mayer
In all of these trade discussions that are being had as we speak, it is an absolute certainty that other teams are trying to pry Marcelo Mayer away and with good reason. The combination of his pure hitting ability and strong defense at a premium position rightly has him as the best prospect in the Red Sox farm system and a top 5-10 prospect in all of baseball.
This does raise an interesting question, though, because Boston has done pretty well to stockpile interesting bats in the minor leagues that can up the middle in the dirt and, well, you don’t need to keep all of them. However, Mayer is a really good defender that seems likely to stay at short and even if he eventually needs to shift over to second or third, the upside here is too great to give up willingly. No team should say NEVER to trading a prospect, but the return would have to be pretty significant to entertain giving up Mayer.
The Red Sox should trade Miguel Bleis
This is a tougher one because in order to get quality players in return, Boston is going to have to give up high quality players with upside to get them and Miguel Bleis certainly fits the bill. His numbers in low-A don’t show it, but Bleis has the potential to be a tantalizing combination of power and speed that earned him a $1.5 million signing bonus as an international free agent.
The biggest issue here is that he got hurt and is going to have to undergo shoulder surgery which is going to create a risk of selling low on him. He is expected to be good to go for 2024, but that doesn’t mean that teams won’t try to ding his value. As a result, a trade involving moving Bleis needs to be one to a team that wants a longer term investment (Bleis isn’t close to the big leagues) and who is willing to bet on the value of his gaudy tools. If Boston finds a team that is in love with him, he can be the centerpiece of a deal for a player that can help them. If a team tries to get him put in deal as a throw-in, it should be a hard pass.