The Boston Red Sox were hit square in the face by the New York Yankees over the weekend, losing a key series that could have wide-reaching implications on the playoff race at the end of September.
As if that weren't bad enough, the baseball team formerly known as the Evil Empire is now set to onboard an old friend in hopes of winning said race; following his placement on waivers by the Kansas City Royals a few days ago, John Schreiber will now be heading to the Bronx as part of the Yankees' late-season bullpen overhaul.
Schreiber, who has been pitching in Kansas City since the Sox sent him there a few years ago, remains mostly the same effective reliever we came to know and (mostly) love from 2022-23. He has a 3.65 ERA in 55 appearances this year, though his FIP (4.87) is inflated because he's lost his best strikeout stuff and is walking batters at an increased volume. There's certainly work the Yankees will have to do to get the best out of him down the stretch.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox have gone down quite a few rabbit holes since that original deal. I bet you never expected to hear the words "John Schreiber trade tree" in 2026, but that's exactly what I'd like to explore following this news.
John Schreiber, now a Yankees reliever, somehow spawned a complex Red Sox trade tree
That Schreiber trade with the Royals returned one player, pitching prospect David Sandlin, to Boston. Over the ensuing years, Sandlin racked up tons of punchouts while gradually climbing the minor-league ranks; by the end of his tenure with the organization, he had emerged as one of the best depth arms in Triple-A Worcester.
Before he could make his MLB debut, however, the Red Sox sent him to Chicago in order to convince the White Sox to assume the remainder of Jordan Hicks' contract, which itself was a remnant of the god-awful Rafael Devers trade tree. In return, Gage Ziehl was traded to Boston, though he was considered a lesser pitching prospect than Sandlin at the time.
Ziehl has actually boosted his prospect stock quite a bit since, as he really showed out in Double-A this year with a 4.13 FIP and 25.7% strikeout rate. He's struggled since being promoted to Triple-A in August, but he's more or less in the same next-man-up position that Sandlin was when they were swapped for each other.
Mercifully, that's where the trade tree ends for now, with Ziehl pitching in Worcester and Schreiber set to debut for the Yankees this week. However, given Craig Breslow's affinity for trading pitching prospects, don't be surprised if we have to add on a few branches in the coming years.
Add us as a preferred source on Google