Early Trade deadline deals the selling Sox should make

[notin]

31 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I’m not the one questioning his futility, and making excuses for why he sucks so much with bat.

All I’m asking is what the Sox are doing with him, which is not excuses.  It’s not even statements.  Presumably it’s something.  Sorry it offends you so. (Actually I’m not.  I kind of hope it does.)

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

All I’m asking is what the Sox are doing with him, which is not excuses.  It’s not even statements.  Presumably it’s something.  Sorry it offends you so. (Actually I’m not.  I kind of hope it does.)

Can’t be offended when ILMO. You’re just assuming, because he’s sucking so bad the Red Sox are doing something with him. If anything it’s messing him up more than anything, and definitely not  doing the kid any good.👋

[notin]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Can’t be offended when ILMO. You’re just assuming, because he’s sucking so bad the Red Sox are doing something with him. If anything it’s messing him up more than anything, and definitely not  doing the kid any good.👋

I’m assuming that any player who gets sent down to “work on something” usually gets put into some kind of regimen that actually works on it.  Otherwise, why bother sending him down and just let him learn in MLB? Campbell was demoted pretty quickly and players on the team now have been allowed to play through much longer slumps without being demoted, so it’s not some automatic thing.

The only one here assuming anything is you, and you clearly don’t know the answer I’m looking for and won’t stop answering anyway.  Not the behavior of an intelligent man…

[vjcsmoke]

Red Sox will be sellers at the deadline and they should be.

We're dead last in the division and this looks like a lost season.

I believe the key is to get back some cost controlled pieces who will soon be ready for major league duty.

It's just really shameful that we flipped Kyle Harrison for an absolute bust acquisition like Durbin.

At just 24 he looks to be a top 3 rotation pitcher already with Ace upside.

8-1 record 72 IP 87 K vs only 18 BB, 1.056 WHIP, and 166 ERA+ is elite. 

On 5/18/2026 at 10:56 AM, southpaw777 said:

Let’s be real…we have some good looking young starters in this organization, but we’re still a mediocre 500ish team. We would have to go over 600 the rest of the way to match last year, which wasn’t even 90 wins. We’re counting on too many 2nd year and 1st year guys. No leadership and a streaky offense. I don’t believe we are good enough this year to be a serious contender against the best teams. I get that the AL isn’t really competitive, but we’re not even serious contenders in a weak AL.

theres a few teams interested in Aroldis Chapman, and with a option for 27 that vests with 40ip we could possibly find that big bat we need.  we don’t have much pure power guys down there that have stood out besides the 6’6 270 lb young (19) and undeveloped Justin Gonzales.

Duran

Contreras

Gray

Are three more that immediately come to mind that could bring something back if they’re performing.

 

[vjcsmoke]

5 hours ago, Old Red said:

We DO KNOW what KC is NOT doing at WOO, and that is hitting the baseball. 2 more K’S today, and now 4-41 in June with 18K’S. If it makes you feel better to think KC is struggling so much is because he’s working on recognizing hitting breaking balls then think away, but KC is looking more lost at the plate everyday.

The problem with Campbell is that he has regressed.

I'm just hoping the Red Sox did not destroy him by promoting him too early.

He looked like a world beater in the minor leagues averaging around .900 OPS at age 22.

At age 23 he fell back to sub .700 OPS.

At age 24 in Worcester he stayed at sub .700 OPS.

I'm not sure if moving him to the outfield has messed with his head but the brass has decided his feature is blocked in the infield so they had him change positions to an outfield role.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, notin said:

All I’m asking is what the Sox are doing with him, which is not excuses.  It’s not even statements.  Presumably it’s something.  

Clearly you were not making excuses, but the resident clown sees any disagreement as an excuse or apology.

[moonslav59]

27 minutes ago, vjcsmoke said:

The problem with Campbell is that he has regressed.

I'm just hoping the Red Sox did not destroy him by promoting him too early.

He looked like a world beater in the minor leagues averaging around .900 OPS at age 22.

At age 23 he fell back to sub .700 OPS.

At age 24 in Worcester he stayed at sub .700 OPS.

I'm not sure if moving him to the outfield has messed with his head but the brass has decided his feature is blocked in the infield so they had him change positions to an outfield role.

At this point, the reason for falling off a cliff doesn't matter much, unless it holds the key to working on an issue.

He's clearly lost something. It could just be his quick minor league success was just a mirage. It wouldn't be the first or last time. 

The longer this struggle goes on, the more likely it gets inside his head, if it hasn't already done so and destroyed his confidence forever.

I'm thinking notin is right. They are coaching him and trying to make him focus on one thing at a time. What that is, we may never know. Maybe I'm giving our minor league coaches too much credit. Maybe not.

Nothing seems to be working, and he's been demoted for about a year, now. He's still too young to write off, but sometimes players can regain or turn it around. I'm hoping he can, but a sign would be nice.

[mvp 78]

7 hours ago, vjcsmoke said:

The problem with Campbell is that he has regressed.

I'm just hoping the Red Sox did not destroy him by promoting him too early.

He looked like a world beater in the minor leagues averaging around .900 OPS at age 22.

At age 23 he fell back to sub .700 OPS.

At age 24 in Worcester he stayed at sub .700 OPS.

I'm not sure if moving him to the outfield has messed with his head but the brass has decided his feature is blocked in the infield so they had him change positions to an outfield role.

It's not the promotion that destroyed him. It's probably the hitting dev program TBH. 

[Old Red]

18 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's not the promotion that destroyed him. It's probably the hitting dev program TBH. 

If he was good enough to sail through the minors, and get to Boston why try to change things. He’s regressed this year from last year at Woo not to mention Boston.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

If he was good enough to sail through the minors, and get to Boston why try to change things. He’s regressed this year from last year at Woo not to mention Boston.

They wanted to tinker with his swing the first time it failed him. The swing is what got him to the bigs. Now he can't hit! Just give him his old, ugly swing back. 

[Hugh2]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

If he was good enough to sail through the minors, and get to Boston why try to change things. He’s regressed this year from last year at Woo not to mention Boston.

Campbell was a very polarizing prospect.  There were many who believed his swing had a huge hole in it, and while he breezed through the minors it would be exposed at the MLB level. 

In hindsight, really feels like maybe they should have seen how it looked first. 

Also, if they were going to completely recreate his swing, maybe they should have demoted him a few levels and face off against worse pitching.  If you're going to completely rebuild someone, do it from the beginning. 

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Campbell was a very polarizing prospect.  There were many who believed his swing had a huge hole in it, and while he breezed through the minors it would be exposed at the MLB level. 

In hindsight, really feels like maybe they should have seen how it looked first. 

Also, if they were going to completely recreate his swing, maybe they should have demoted him a few levels and face off against worse pitching.  If you're going to completely rebuild someone, do it from the beginning. 

I have big questions about the hitting development right now and it has nothing to do with driveline. 

[Hugh2]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

I have big questions about the hitting development right now and it has nothing to do with driveline. 

Agreed, there are plenty of teams who use Driveline who have had a ton of success.  But something is very wrong in Boston right now. 

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They wanted to tinker with his swing the first time it failed him. The swing is what got him to the bigs. Now he can't hit! Just give him his old, ugly swing back. 

Seems that his old swing was at least working better than whatever he’s doing now.

[mvp 78]

40 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Agreed, there are plenty of teams who use Driveline who have had a ton of success.  But something is very wrong in Boston right now. 

It wasn't a Driveline guy who yelled at Jim Rice for talking to a prospect. 

[mvp 78]

39 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Seems that his old swing was at least working better than whatever he’s doing now.

They gave the big extension for the old swing's results. 

[notin]

47 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I have big questions about the hitting development right now and it has nothing to do with driveline. 

I think that’s fair.  Every MLB team uses Driveline, but not every MLB team sees their prospects struggle in the majors like Boston has…

[notin]

56 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Campbell was a very polarizing prospect.  There were many who believed his swing had a huge hole in it, and while he breezed through the minors it would be exposed at the MLB level. 

In hindsight, really feels like maybe they should have seen how it looked first. 

Also, if they were going to completely recreate his swing, maybe they should have demoted him a few levels and face off against worse pitching.  If you're going to completely rebuild someone, do it from the beginning. 

The National guys that rank prospects didn’t mention it as a hole per se.  They said, yes, his mechanics are unorthodox and much like Hunter Pence, but his batspeed, etc. made up for it.

If the internal Sox people didn't like his swing, why extend him?

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

I think that’s fair.  Every MLB team uses Driveline, but not every MLB team sees their prospects struggle in the majors like Boston has…

Some of it could be SSS, but the injuries PLUS lack of performance PLUS lack of offensive talent above AA PLUS trading away guys that have done well outside of the org. Not a pretty picture.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

The National guys that rank prospects didn’t mention it as a hole per se.  They said, yes, his mechanics are unorthodox and much like Hunter Pence, but his batspeed, etc. made up for it.

If the internal Sox people didn't like his swing, why extend him?

If they didn't think his swing was a problem, why completely break it down this offseason?

[Hugh2]

7 minutes ago, notin said:

The National guys that rank prospects didn’t mention it as a hole per se.  They said, yes, his mechanics are unorthodox and much like Hunter Pence, but his batspeed, etc. made up for it.

If the internal Sox people didn't like his swing, why extend him?

Unless my memory fails me I thought he was a polarizing prospect.  Some had serious concerns about the swing while others thought he was going to great

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Unless my memory fails me I thought he was a polarizing prospect.  Some had serious concerns about the swing while others thought he was going to great

Yup.

[notin]

33 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they didn't think his swing was a problem, why completely break it down this offseason?

No idea.  I assume they were probably doing their usual “one size fits all” approach and someone said “hey, Jackie Bradley got much much better when we got him to stop tapping his toe! We should do that with Campbell, too!”

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

No idea.  I assume they were pribably doing their usual “one size fits all” approach and someone said “hey, Jackie Bradley got much much better when we got him to stop tapping his toe! We should do that with Campbell, too!”

Their whole approach stinks right now. This team used to churn out offensive talent. Now they have no clue. All the turnover since Ben Cherington has finally started to take its toll IMO. 

[southpaw777]

9 hours ago, vjcsmoke said:

Red Sox will be sellers at the deadline and they should be.

We're dead last in the division and this looks like a lost season.

I believe the key is to get back some cost controlled pieces who will soon be ready for major league duty.

It's just really shameful that we flipped Kyle Harrison for an absolute bust acquisition like Durbin.

At just 24 he looks to be a top 3 rotation pitcher already with Ace upside.

8-1 record 72 IP 87 K vs only 18 BB, 1.056 WHIP, and 166 ERA+ is elite. 

 

I agree that Harrison Drohan and another was too much for a slap hitter middle infielder. We didn’t give Harrison, or Blaze Jordan for that matter, a shot. Both were positions of need and both players had good upside that deserved a shot.
what I’m afraid of is Breslow screwing up the deadline deals like Bloom standing pat in 22 and 23.
With Gray, Chapman, Duran, Contreras, and a couple more to a lesser extent, we could bring back some good near MLB, or MLB ready players.

[notin]

33 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Unless my memory fails me I thought he was a polarizing prospect.  Some had serious concerns about the swing while others thought he was going to great

So after one good month followed by one bad month, they decided “enough is enough” and made the call to tear the whole thing down?  
 

Sadly, thats very believable…

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, southpaw777 said:

I agree that Harrison Drohan and another was too much for a slap hitter middle infielder. We didn’t give Harrison, or Blaze Jordan for that matter, a shot. Both were positions of need and both players had good upside that deserved a shot.
what I’m afraid of is Breslow screwing up the deadline deals like Bloom standing pat in 22 and 23.
With Gray, Chapman, Duran, Contreras, and a couple more to a lesser extent, we could bring back some good near MLB, or MLB ready players.

Since going to Gradum:

Durbin 23 G, 4 HR, 7 2b, 303 BA, 891 OPS

Will he keep it up? Definitely not. Where will his OPS end up? Hopefully close to 725. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, notin said:

So after one good month followed by one bad month, they decided “enough is enough” and made the call to tear the whole thing down?  
 

Sadly, thats very believable…

One great month followed by one bad month in MLB and 4 mediocre to bad months in AAA. 

[notin]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

One great month followed by one bad month in MLB and 4 mediocre to bad months in AAA. 

Well, if they’re messing with his swing, I would expect that to impact him negatively.

It seems like the obvious solution is to let him use the swing that got him to be a Minor League Player of the Year and AL Rookie of the Month.  And to not panic over the occasional slump…

[southpaw777]

9 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

At this point, the reason for falling off a cliff doesn't matter much, unless it holds the key to working on an issue.

He's clearly lost something. It could just be his quick minor league success was just a mirage. It wouldn't be the first or last time. 

The longer this struggle goes on, the more likely it gets inside his head, if it hasn't already done so and destroyed his confidence forever.

I'm thinking notin is right. They are coaching him and trying to make him focus on one thing at a time. What that is, we may never know. Maybe I'm giving our minor league coaches too much credit. Maybe not.

Nothing seems to be working, and he's been demoted for about a year, now. He's still too young to write off, but sometimes players can regain or turn it around. I'm hoping he can, but a sign would be nice.

He always looked like a scared deer in the headlights. I was shocked when Breslow gave him 60m. Smart kid for instantly taking it. The book on him was holes in that swing that mlb starters would expose and that he didn’t have a true position because his defense was bad. Giving a kid like him a deal with very little time in MLB shows breslows inexperience. And honestly, this goes for Anthony too, but to a lesser degree.