4 players the Red Sox should have traded at the trade deadline
Whether you think the Red Sox should have been buyers or sellers at the deadline, it is clear they missed some golden opportunities.
Reasonable people can disagree as to whether or not the Boston Red Sox should have been buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Boston was on the outside looking in at the deadline when it came to the brutal AL wild card race, but they were close enough and playing well enough to at least entertain the idea of buying.
However, the one thing they absolutely shouldn't have done was the path they chose which was essentially standing pat. Other than trading for the ghost of Luis Urias, Chaim Bloom and the rest of the Red Sox front office didn't appreciably improve Boston's roster nor did they trade off assets to help build for 2024 and beyond.
It is somewhat poetic now as the Red Sox have lost eight of their past 10 games and are now 12 games back in the AL East and five games out of any playoff spot at all. It certainly seems like Bloom did not see this Red Sox roster as worth pushing their chips in, but that means there are some moves that they absolutely should have made at the deadline to prepare for future seasons.
Here are 4 players the Red Sox should have traded at the trade deadline
Assuming a world where the Red Sox should have been sellers at the deadline which seems reasonable based on how things have gone, Boston should have been active on the sellers market as prices would have been very favorable for them. No one is advocating that the Boston roster should have turned into a fire sale and Jarren Duran should have been moved or anything like that. However, there were players that could have been moved without compromising their roster TOO much especially when it comes to players that are on short-term deals.
Let's take a look at 4 players the Red Sox should have traded at the deadline this year.
Boston should have traded Adam Duvall at the trade deadline
Anyone who followed the trade deadline knows that the market for position players was particularly shallow this year. There were a number of contenders that really needed bats that could actually hit for some power and those guys just were not available this go-around. If the Red Sox would have actually made Adam Duvall available, they would have had a number of teams bidding for his services.
In fairness to the Boston front office, one factor that could have gone into the decision to not trade Duvall is that he did not want to be traded yet again at the trade deadline. While his status as a guy with big offensive upside on a very affordable one year deal made him attractive as a trade candidate, there is a chance that moving him against his wishes could make other such players hesitant to sign short term deals with Boston in the future. However, that should have been just a minor consideration at best and with the current composition of Boston's outfield and Ceddanne Rafaela lurking in Triple-A, Duvall is a guy that needed to be moved (preferably for a pitching prospect).
James Paxton should have been dealt by the Red Sox before the deadline
James Paxton's name seems to come up at every trade deadline regardless of where he is playing. When he is healthy, he is a very productive pitcher who shows flashes of brilliance. However, Paxton does seem to be snakebit when it comes to injuries as he missed the 2022 season after having Tommy John surgery and he was far from being a stranger to the injured list before that.
While Paxton has been one of the few bright spots for the Red Sox pitching staff this season, the reality is that he will be an unrestricted free agent after the season and is making just $4 million in 2023. Even with his injury history, he could have garnered a package of prospects for Boston on par with what some of the better rotation rentals got at the deadline. Instead, Boston held on to Paxton and are likely to miss the playoffs with the prospect of getting nothing when Paxton walks after the season on the horizon.
Chris Martin would have been a prime trade chip for the Red Sox
At any trade deadline, the player demographic that is the easiest to find suitors for are relievers. Every contender wants to add bullpen depth for the stretch run and this year was no exception. Most of the time, it is relievers that have performed well enough that are also rentals are the ones that get moved. However, bullpen arms that come with a bit of team control along with the added urgency of the deadline can result in a big return and this is where Boston missed a prime opportunity with Chris Martin.
Through 39 appearances this season, Martin has posted a 1.49 ERA thanks to his elite ability to limit hard contact and getting hitters to chase his pitches out of the zone. Perennially underappreciated, Martin would have appealed to data-driven and more traditional teams alike especially since he is under team control through 2024. His age and the $7.5 million owed to him next year might have given some teams pause, but moving Martin in this year's seller's market just should have happened.
Alex Verdugo getting traded would have brought a haul back for Boston
Let's assume a world where the Red Sox didn't want to move Adam Duvall whether it was because they didn't think teams were valuing him highly enough or because they wanted to honor his wishes. The reality of Boston's roster and minor league system is that they only have so much playing time to go around. If Boston was serious about setting themselves up for success in the coming years, the move they should have made was to trade Alex Verdugo.
The lack of bats on the trade market is another strong argument for moving Verdugo especially considering that he is under contract via arbitration through 2024 and who is having a really good year this year. Assuming that Duran and Yoshida are not going anywhere (and they shouldn't be) and the number of outfield prospects Boston has coming through their farm system, the logical move is to deal from that position of strength to shore up Boston's obvious pitching deficiency. Again, we know that the Red Sox front office didn't think a playoff push was in the cards because they didn't actually do anything, so what is the value of keeping Verdugo on the roster and watching his value die on the vine?
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