3 Red Sox trade partners to call about an outfielder for a starting pitcher swap
The Red Sox need to find a team that needs an outfielder who can also give them starting pitching help.
Two games out of a wild card spot at the break and it’s looking like the Boston Red Sox could end up as trade deadline buyers. How could they not? The New York Yankees keep hitting themselves. The Boston offense is way too good and pitchers like Brayan Bello have stepped up in a way where it’s hard to be passive about what this year’s club can do.
The trouble for the Red Sox is their starting pitching staff is decimated with injuries. Even while healthy, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, and others weren’t so spectacular. It’s only the productive at-bats which have helped to keep them alive.
There are a couple of ways the Red Sox could approach the trade deadline. One unique twist could be to get in touch with some of the other contenders and talk about swapping an outfielder for a starting pitcher. Three teams either positioned or near a playoff spot have enough starting pitching to spare yet have a major need for an offensive boost. The Red Sox, with Jarren Duran playing so well, now have some excess with Adam Duvall on the roster. Whether it’s Duvall or even Alex Verdugo they trade away, it’s worth calling up these three contenders to see if there’s any interest in helping each other out.
1) Red Sox should call the Padres about a win-now trade for both teams
As much as the Cleveland Guardians might be a theoretical fit, they cannot afford to subtract much from their starting rotation right now. The same is true for the Miami Marlins. Even the Seattle Mariners could qualify for this billing.
One of the first teams the Red Sox should call up about a win-now trade for both teams are the San Diego Padres. Although looking up with binoculars at the NL Wild Card, their stacked roster has enough talent to take off in the second half of the season. A trade with the Red Sox which sends one of their starting pitchers to Boston for an offensive upgrade is something to consider.
The pitchers immediately off the table for the Padres would be Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove. The latter have contract extensions while Snell has been one of their better arms. Michael Wacha, who the Red Sox clearly should’ve brought back, is now on the IL but the owner of an 8-2 record and 2.84 ERA on the year. He’s definitely someone to look at reuniting with as long as he’s healthy before the trade deadline.
The other two names worth consideration are Seth Lugo and swingman Nick Martinez. Martinez has pitched mostly out of the bullpen for the Padres this year with Lugo transitioning from a reliever with the New York Mets to a starter with San Diego this year.
In this hypothetical trade, we’d be looking to send Duvall to the Padres to upgrade over center fielder Trent Grisham and provide them with more depth, even at the DH spot. Whether it’s Wacha or Lugo the Red Sox seek out, it would probably cost them more than Duvall. Verdugo feels like a little much but it’s probably what it would take unless we start getting other players involved.
We’ll let Chaim Bloom and A.J. Preller work out the details.
2) Red Sox should call the Brewers about a win-now trade for both teams
The Milwaukee Brewers may be the best match for the Red Sox in some sort of outfielder for starting pitcher swap. They’re a team that has competed for a few seasons now on the backs of their starting pitchers. The offense has been up and down from year to year. Now a game behind the Cincinnati Reds, we should expect them to do whatever they can to overtake one of baseball’s most pleasant surprises of the second half.
The Brewers have several different options for the Red Sox to choose from. Ace Corbin Burnes isn’t having a spectacular year and would come at a higher cost than Verdugo or Duvall. Wade Miley has shown himself to be injury prone in recent years while Julio Teheran’s resurgence in Milwaukee this year is too “out of nowhere” to pay a high price for and yet completely realistic.
Teheran is 2-3 with a 3.64 ERA in 8 starts for the Brewers. A pure rental for the Red Sox, he’d probably be as much of a wild card in Boston as Duvall would be in Milwaukee.
The outfield situation in Milwaukee has Christian Yelich playing well but light on power in left field, Joey Wiemer doing nothing but hitting for power in center field, and Blake Perkins over in right field not doing much at all. They do have Jesse Winker playing mostly DH. He has only one home run and a .200 batting average. He’s a DFA candidate at a spot in the Milwaukee lineup they’ve been desperate to fill all season.
Duvall’s ability to play all three outfield positions would help the Brewers upgrade their lineup. The subtraction of Teheran wouldn’t be substantial enough.
Take your pick. Duvall for Teheran or Miley, a veteran lefty renal who is 6-2 with a 3.06 ERA this season. He might be the better gamble. Just cross your fingers he stays off the IL.
3) Red Sox should call the Twins about a win-now trade for both teams
Then there are the Minnesota Twins. Their starting pitching staff has been one of the best in baseball this year. The offense, meanwhile, has struggled to hit their own weight.
It’s a bit ironic that this is the club that sent .400 chaser Luis Arraez to the Miami Marlins in the offseason. They sure could use a guy like him on the roster, but Pablo Lopez hasn’t been a slouch for them either. He is 5-5 with a 3.89 ERA in 18 starts.
As far as who to target in a trade goes, we’d have to expect Kenta Maeda to be the most available of the Twins starters. However, at only 2-5 with a 5.18 ERA in 7 starts, he’s not so appealing. Lopez, who is signed through 2027 and about to make over $21 million starting in 2025, probably isn’t going anywhere either.
Years of control on Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan make them difficult to pry away from the Twins. This leaves us with Sonny Gray, a free agent at the end of the year. He’s the most seasoned MLB starter in their rotation pitching well this year. He’d be a great fit for the Red Sox rotation and it would cost them Verdugo for sure. A trade between the Red Sox and Twins to help out both clubs might require a little more than a one-for-one swap.
Maybe it’s Duvall and Nick Pivetta for Maeda and Michael A. Taylor that balances things out the most. We won’t find out until one front office hits the other up with a call.
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