Article: Red Sox Pick Up Pitcher Matt McShane for Chase Shugart

[Davy Andrews]

Last week, for the second time during this offseason, the Red Sox sent a player they no longer had room for to Pittsburgh in exchange for an untested draft pick.

Catching up on some news from last week, the Red Sox pulled off their second trade of the offseason with the Pirates. It was a swap of right-handed pitchers, with Boston sending Chase Shugart, whom they’d designated for assignment earlier in the week, to Pittsburgh, and receiving Matt McShane in return. In an odd twist, not only is McShane is the second right-handed to be traded from the Pirates to the Red Sox for a DFA’d player this offseason, he’s the second one from the 2024 draft class who never ended up throwing a pitch in a game for the Pittsburgh organization. As you might recall, back in December, the Red Sox traded and Enmanuel Valdez to the Pirates for 19th-rounder Joe Vogatsky, whom the Pirates drafted in the 19th round out of James Madison University.

In some ways, the movie makes perfect sense and reflects where the two teams are. Shugart is 28 years old and made his major league debut with the Red Sox last season, running a 4.15 ERA over 8 2/3 innings and six appearances. He hasn’t run great numbers in the minors, and projections see him as a replacement-level arm. That’s not very useful to the Red Sox right now, as they have their sights set on making it into the playoffs. However, he’s a big-league ready arm with a fastball that averages 96 mph. The Pirates have their sights set a bit lower, and they have room on their roster to at least take a chance that Shugart figures things out this season. Just as they did back in December during the Valdez-Vogatsky trade, the Red Sox managed to get a lottery ticket in exchange for a player who wasn’t much use to them but had a chance of being useful to the Pirates.

As for McShane, he’s listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, but because he never got into a game with Pittsburgh, there isn’t much to go on aside from his excellent college numbers. McShane was selected in the 13th round of the draft out of Saint Joseph’s University, where he went 14-2 with a 3.76 ERA over 119 2/3 innings pitched. McShane racked up 125 strikeouts in his three years as a Hawk. He also impressed in two summers with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod League, making the All-Star team in 2023. He ran a 2.18 ERA in 23 appearances and 45.1 innings, striking out nearly 30% of the batters he faced while allowing just two home runs.

According to Jake Bargery of Prospects McShane’s velocity ticked up in 2024, and his fastball reached 96 mph while sitting 93 to 95. However, Bargery noted that this was a particularly high-effort 93 to 95. The fastball was complemented by an effective slider and a somewhat scattershot changeup. If you want to draw your own conclusions, you can watch video of his pro day at Saint Joseph’s (below) or some game footage.

For right now, there’s no way to know if and when McShane, or Vogatsky for that matter, will have any impact on the Red Sox. The ability to get a couple lottery picks for a couple players who no longer fit on your roster is a luxury, and the Red Sox will likely view anything they get from them as a bonus.

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[moonslav59]

I'd rtaher make moves like this, than to trade for a 5 year minor leaguer with very little chance at making the bigs.

[notin]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'd rtaher make moves like this, than to trade for a 5 year minor leaguer with very little chance at making the bigs.

Like Shugart…

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, notin said:

Like Shugart…

Indeed. Guys like him are everywhere, and there is a good chance he gets DFA'd, this year.

I can see a change in the focus on identifying better young pitchers, or one with higher upside, better focus on developing them by setting tangible objectives for them to reach, and by making several trades of everyday players and unneeded pitchers for pitching at all levels.

There will be swings and misses, for sure, but I applaud the effort made by Brez & Co, to remake the whole system's focus on pitching. Brez has been the CBO for about 15 months, and these are just some of the pitchers added to the roster:

Crochet, Buehler, Slaten, Giolito, Criswell, Sandoval, Chapman, Hendriks, Wilson

Fitts, Priester, Sandlin, D Reyes, Weissert, Wehunt, Tolle, Delzine, Cordero, Neely, Clarke, Cason, Tygart

Fajardo,  Judice, Aita, Brito, J Moran, H Harris, A Adams, J Adames, I Campbell

 N Davis, R Stock, E Rivera, Kirwin, Booser, Shugart, 

The more forgettable: Paxton, Hill, Luis Garcia, L Sims, Joely, Chase Anderson, B Keller, B Horn, Uwasawa, Jaques, Y Ramirez, Wingenter and others

[vjcsmoke]

Hitting grabs headlines but Pitching wins ballgames. It's smart to grab higher upside prospects and see if you can develop them to become better.

 

It's too bad Breslow is handcuffed in the finances for improving the roster. Imagine what he could do if he didn't have one hand tied behind his back?

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, vjcsmoke said:

Hitting grabs headlines but Pitching wins ballgames. It's smart to grab higher upside prospects and see if you can develop them to become better.

It's too bad Breslow is handcuffed in the finances for improving the roster. Imagine what he could do if he didn't have one hand tied behind his back?

It's hard to say what Breslow (or Chaim for that matter) would do without the fiscal limitations. I like how he's transformed the pitching development and he has focused more on the MLB squad than the prior CBO. I also give him more credit if he's also holding firm against the Bregman signing because he doesn't like the guy when Cora and Sam really want him.

[Bellhorn04]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's hard to say what Breslow (or Chaim for that matter) would do without the fiscal limitations. I like how he's transformed the pitching development and he has focused more on the MLB squad than the prior CBO. I also give him more credit if he's also holding firm against the Bregman signing because he doesn't like the guy when Cora and Sam really want him.

That's great about the holding firm thing, but Craig did say they need a RH bat, and he hasn't produced one.  What was his alternative to Bregman is the question.

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That's great about the holding firm thing, but Craig did say they need a RH bat, and he hasn't produced one.  What was his alternative to Bregman is the question.

Just because you need one, doesn't mean you need an aging one for 5 years. They've had enough 1 year guys over the years that they can get another. 

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That's great about the holding firm thing, but Craig did say they need a RH bat, and he hasn't produced one.  What was his alternative to Bregman is the question.

Bregman is not a great solution to the RHB need. He would help, but not by a lot.

If we end up trading Casas to make room for him, it is essentially a loss on offense (even vs LHPs and a loss vs RHPs.) If we bench Yoshida (Devers and or Casas to DH) we will gain vs LHPs but lose vsRHPs. If we move Yoshida/Ref to LF, then Bregman's bat would essentially be replacing an OF'ers bat, most likely Rafaela's, and that would be a plus vs LHPs and RHPs. (We'd probably see an Abreu-Rafaela platoon in RF.)

[Bellhorn04]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Just because you need one, doesn't mean you need an aging one for 5 years. They've had enough 1 year guys over the years that they can get another. 

So who are they getting?  

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Bregman is not a great solution to the RHB need. He would help, but not by a lot.

If we end up trading Casas to make room for him, it is essentially a loss on offense (even vs LHPs and a loss vs RHPs.) If we bench Yoshida (Devers and or Casas to DH) we will gain vs LHPs but lose vsRHPs. If we move Yoshida/Ref to LF, then Bregman's bat would essentially be replacing an OF'ers bat, most likely Rafaela's, and that would be a plus vs LHPs and RHPs. (We'd probably see an Abreu-Rafaela platoon in RF.)

I'm not all excited about Alex Bregman.  I just have a feeling the alternative is Jack DIddlesquat.  

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

So who are they getting?  

Grichuk probs. 

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I'm not all excited about Alex Bregman.  I just have a feeling the alternative is Jack DIddlesquat.  

Diddlesquat may be a better contract over the long haul. 

[moonslav59]

Bregman's splits:

.795 OPS since 2020 (122 OPS+)

He has reverse splits since 2020:

.746 v LHPs

.817 v RHP

Sox players to possibly be replaced by Bregman in the line-up: (v L/vR)

Yoshida: .669/ .810 (Bregman is about 80 pys better v LHPs and about the same vs RHP, but we can platoon Ref with Yoshida and get better results than Bregman.)

Rafaela .610/ .684 (Bregman is much better in both splits)

Casas (if traded) .772/.846 (Casas has been better in both splits)

[Bellhorn04]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Diddlesquat may be a better contract over the long haul. 

Jack is cheap as heck and causes no roster complications.  It's no wonder the Sox are so big on him.

[Bellhorn04]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Bregman's splits:

.795 OPS since 2020 (122 OPS+)

He has reverse splits since 2020:

.746 v LHPs

.817 v RHP

Sox players to possibly be replaced by Bregman in the line-up: (v L/vR)

Yoshida: .669/ .810 (Bregman is about 80 pys better v LHPs and about the same vs RHP, but we can platoon Ref with Yoshida and get better results than Bregman.)

Rafaela .610/ .684 (Bregman is much better in both splits)

Casas (if traded) .772/.846 (Casas has been better in both splits)

Casas isn't getting traded.  That ship has sailed.

No worries about Bregman, that's not happening either.  It's a purely academic debate.    

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

So who are they getting?  

Grichuk.

Career:

.833 v LHPs and about the same as Bregman v RHPs at .737.

2024: .914 v l/ .801 v R

2023: .995 v L/ .694 v R

2022: .926/.620

He might cost 5-10% of what Bregman gets.

[Bellhorn04]

OK, it's down to Grichuk vs. Diddlesquat.  Stay tuned.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Casas isn't getting traded.  That ship has sailed.

No worries about Bregman, that's not happening either.  It's a purely academic debate.    

If the Astros still have their original offer on the table, he isn't coming here. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

OK, it's down to Grichuk vs. Diddlesquat.  Stay tuned.

Notin is still hoping for Laureano most likely. 

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If the Astros still have their original offer on the table, he isn't coming here. 

He wasn't anyway.

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

He wasn't anyway.

If it was truly between DET and BOS, I think he'd be here on a cheap deal. I don't see him coming here if the Astros deal is on the table and if the reports of the PHI being the mystery team are true. 

[moonslav59]

40 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

OK, it's down to Grichuk vs. Diddlesquat.  Stay tuned.

Yup, another winter sham.