Red Sox End Brief Jordan Hicks Era, Swallowing Some Medicine & Pride Along the Way

[Brandon Glick]

For the second offseason in a row, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox have made a trade involving a flamethrowing pitcher. Only this time, it's the Red Sox who are subtracting from their roster, sending Jordan Hicks and prospect David Sandlin (plus two PTBNL) to the South Side of the Windy City for Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later.

Hicks has been a popular point of discussion around these parts ever since he was acquired in the exceedingly ill-fated Rafael Devers trade with the San Francisco Giants. There were flashes of his old brilliance in Boston, and a profile that was just wanting for some slight tweaking. Alas, an 8.20 ERA and 6.19 FIP were simply too ugly to withstand, and the front office was able to move off the $25 million remaining on his contract.

Sandlin is by far the bigger loss from the Sox's perspective. The 24-year-old reached Triple-A for the first time in 2025, logging a 4.50 ERA (3.76 FIP) in 106 innings across the two highest levels of the minor leagues. Like Hicks, we was on the 40-man roster, freeing up two roster spots for the Red Sox to use. His departure marks yet another young starting pitcher traded by the organization this winter, joining the likes of Luis Perales, Yhoiker Fajardo, Hunter Dobbins, Blake Aita, Brandon Clarke, Richard Fitts. The front office has done an excellent job building up depth at the position, and they continue to focus their scouting and drafting efforts on pitchers. They have more than enough talent to withstand those losses, but it's interesting to see that after years of building up their pitching depth, they've had no qualms knocking it down.

Ziehl is the only named part of the return, but he's certainly an intriguing arm to add to the farm system. A fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft by the New York Yankees, the 22-year-old right-hander pitched to a 3.39 FIP in 107.0 innings between them and the Pale Hose last season. With an impressive slider and some excellent command (4.2% walk rate), he's got a high floor as a starter and should eventually replace Sandlin's position within the organization once he ascends to the upper minors.

Beyond the roster spots and money saved, perhaps the biggest implication of this deal is what it means for Kyle Harrison. Thanks to all of the other offseason trades, he's now one of the most important depth pieces on the 40-man roster, and because Hicks and James Tibbs III (traded in the ill-advised Dustin May deal) are already out of the organization, pressure will mount and ratchet up for the 24-year-old southpaw to live up to his former top prospect billing. Barring a big developmental leap for Jose Bello, the Red Sox's only hope of extracting value from the Devers trade lies in Harrison. Considering that they salary-dumped Devers just to have to salary dump Hicks less than a year later, this already feels like a huge whiff by Craig Breslow and the front office. It's not Harrison's fault that he is now the ostensible centerpiece of that deal, but if he also doesn't pan out... yikes.

The other primary question is how the Sox will fill Hicks' vacated spot in the bullpen. Another power arm would be helpful, as would an additional southpaw. Free-agent options are scarce, and the trade market will require a king's ransom for anyone who fits both of those qualifiers. Perhaps a transition to the 'pen for Harrison could help the team assuage both concerns in one go.

Hicks was almost certainly never going to pan out in Boston, and trading him (even at the price of surrendering Sandlin) was the right way to move on. There's now more money to spend on players and free roster spots with which to add said players. The Devers trade tree is looking uglier and uglier by the day, but it's important that the front office didn't give into the sunk cost fallacy and try to stubbornly resurrect Hicks' career out of pride. The team should be slightly better for this move in 2026, even if it's also fair to say they would've been significantly better if Devers was still around.

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[Brandon Glick]

This is one of the ugliest trade trees in recent memory. Almost hard to believe how poorly (and quickly) that Devers deal is aging.

[JoeBrady]

pressure will mount and ratchet up for the 24-year-old southpaw to live up to his former top prospect billing. 

The pressure on Harrison isn't changed one iota with the Hicks.  No one in the world is saying 'oh no, now Harrison has to succeed'.

[Nick]

It's astonishing to me that we signed INJURED Sadoval for basically $18M for one year and now we don't have a place for him in the rotation?

Basically Bres has been saved by the Crochet trade and extension. Am I wrong?

[Seth Stohs]

Holy impressive work again by Craig Breslow... First, he gets rid rid of the $300 million commitment to the non-team player in Rafael Devers. To get anything back was impressive. Now he got rid of two years and $28 million in Jordan Hicks' contract. With three PTBNL in the trade unknown, opinion could change, but call me impressed. ... 

And they pushed the price up on Bregman. They have Mayer, Campbell, and several others that they need to hand the keys over to already.