Don’t Expect the Red Sox to Be Major Buyers at The Trade Deadline
On Monday’s edition of Toucher and Hardy, Chris Cotillo who covers the The Red Sox for the Masslive, joined the show. Cotillo explained why fans shouldn’t expect the Red Sox to be major buyers at trade deadline, but should expect only small moves that’d help the team around the margins.
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Moves Around The Margin Like We’ve Seen…
Toucher: From what I’m reading, the big names from the Blue Jays, the White Sox, and the Tigers; like the real big star players, especially pitchers, are not going to be available. Are you hearing the same thing?
Chris Cotillo: Yeah. Things that happened the other day right after Randy Arozarena got traded to Seattle. He could possibly be the biggest name to move. You know, I think there’s a reason where you look at some of the other big names out there and why they might not (The White Sox) trade Garrett Crochet. With the restrictions on that situation. He said he wouldn’t pitch in the playoffs. I think that’s scared some teams off. There’s Skubal in Detroit, but you know that price is going to be so high. A Red Sox person said the other day that he thinks it would take two of the big three (Prospects in the Red Sox system) to get that done. So even though he’s a great fit for the Red Sox, the controllable lefty ace.
Toucher: Yeah, I had heard that Baltimore would have to give up Jackson Holiday, who is considered the biggest prospect in baseball, and other pieces. So and I don’t know why the Tigers would trade him anyway.
Chris Cotillo: And then Toronto, you know they’re moving some of their rentals. But they do want to come back next year. So Guerrero and Bichette seem to be off the market in that way. It’s a seller’s market. The prices are super high. You’ve seen some of the relievers that have moved out in the San Diego. Some lesser guys have been sent out of Washington. They’ve gotten a pretty good haul back. So if Arozarena is the biggest name to move, that might be the case. But we always see surprises late tomorrow and maybe a big name here or there. For the Red Sox, I think I’d be jumping ahead but I think they’ve played their way into a place where we don’t expect them to be among the buyers going for the biggest moves. I think moves around the margins like we’ve seen, is most likely.
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Wallach: The price is just too high for relievers these days. Red Sox don’t have an appetite for that considering the record as you mentioned.
Toucher: Do you think that’s wrong? Do you think that they should have a bigger appetite because, people are going to bitch. They’ve extended Cora, which people were bitching about. Do you think given the prices, that the Red Sox should should be active at the trade deadline?
Chris Cotillo: I mean, you can always use more relief help. We’ve seen that really be the issue over the last ten days in LA, in Colorado, and then the first series against the Yankees. Jansen was struggling a little bit here and there. But Chris Martin and Justin Clayton are going to be back probably around August. So two guys that you know who are super important for the bullpen. I think once you have those two guys, everybody else falls in line. They’ll pick their best two lefties out of Bernardino Boozer, and Juan Zarqawi, and Cooper Criswell. So they are getting help with that. I know that they’ve built an excuse for them not to do anything, but I think at the end of the day tomorrow you’ll see a couple of these rental relievers, like a 35 year old guy somewhere with a three E.R.A, that is a pending free agent.
![Feb 15, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow talks with media at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports](https://985thesportshub.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/88/2024/02/USATSI_22531195_168403357_lowres.jpg?resize=1024,682)