According to multiple reports, the Boston Red Sox are 'actively' marketing Bobby Dalbec as a potential trade piece. This report initially came from two NL executives who told Peter Gammons about the current situation.
Recently Dalbec was optioned back to Triple-A Worcester and has only had the chance to play in eight games for Boston this season. Even further, he has only had 11 at-bats this season, compared to 117 and 130 in the last two seasons total.
Bobby Dalbec trade ideas are nothing new for Red Sox fans
The concept of Dalbec being traded has been thrown around often by fans, and this seemingly could be coming to fruition if the report is true. After the acquisition of Pablo Reyes recently, who plays a similar utility role to what Dalbec currently plays, the amount of room for error seemed to shrink for Bobby. The other issue being the two positions Dalbec primarily plays, first and third base, are taken up by franchise cornerstone Rafael Devers and highly ranked prospect Triston Casas.
Now, does that mean there is absolutely no role whatsoever for Dalbec? No. We have seen players make the most of a role where they play whichever position is needed that day. Players like Brock Holt, Jed Lowrie to an extent, and a little further back with Gabe Kapler, have been able to carve out at bats for the Sox and get quality playing time in the rotation.
With that said, who knows if Dalbec wants to be limited to that role. First and third basemen are always in demand across the league, and he is capable of playing both positions, so the likelihood of a team finding trade value in him is pretty high.
In four seasons with Boston, Dalbec has had 825 at-bats, with .232/.299/.751 splits, 45 home runs, 133 RBI, and 320 strikeouts to 69 walks. He has also been relatively effective in the field, with a .990 fielding rate, which is the equivalent of 16 errors in 1,788 defensive innings played.
According to Baseball Savant, Dalbec struggled in a lot of places in 2022. He did rank rather well in exit velocity type statistics, with the 94th percentile in max exit velocity, 84th percentile in barrel %, 79th percentile in hard hit %, and 75th percentile for average exit velocity. With that said, he ranked in the 5th percentile in arm strength and strikeout %, 8th percentile in expected batting average, the 2nd percentile in strikeout %, and only the 40th percentile in outs above expected.
While he may not have an exceptional amount of trade value, if the Sox could get back either a decent prospect or a player they could plug into the major league roster/bullpen, that would probably be worth dealing him. The Sox have dealt with quite a few pitching injuries in the last month or so, and also in the middle infield at times, so getting a decent rotational player who can make an instant impact would be helpful.
Overall, it will be intriguing to see if the Sox can get someone back in a trade, and if so, who that may be. It will also be interesting to see who the deal ends up being with, as you would assume it would be a team with active needs on the infield. Or, even if the deal happens in the first place, with this rumor not formulating into anything.