Question of the week: Grade the trade deadline

[Brock Beauchamp]

Now that the dust has settled, what grade do you give?

[moonslav59]

I was thinking B- to C+ and settled on "C"

I feel okay with the AR trade, but OK is a C. I'd have kept Mayer and hope his stock goes up.

[JoeBrady]

B.

• Too early on the Rutschman trade, and it could easily be a trade both sides win.
• I like Early/Mead, but most of all because I suspect Early's long-term health, and Mead fits really well.
• I like the Mayer trade a lot more now than I did.  He was unlikely to make the team in 2027, and my guess is that his value is more likely to decline than increase.  And getting someone that can contribute today adds some value.
• The White trade was likely to support and rest players until Anthony (hopefully) returns.  And if you are worried about trading Uberstine, you might as well cancel your cell plan.

[Old Red]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I was thinking B- to C+ and settled on "C"

I feel okay with the AR trade, but OK is a C. I'd have kept Mayer and hope his stock goes up.

Right now I would say for this year it will depend on how much they get out of the Rut Man, and how much he actually plays.  Mead was pretty much an unknown after going from team to team, and all of a sudden hit 17 HR. INC for me now with neither on the field.

[JoeBrady]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I was thinking B- to C+ and settled on "C"

I feel okay with the AR trade, but OK is a C. I'd have kept Mayer and hope his stock goes up.

Off-topic, but 'C' is okay?  Isn't that a 2.0 index?

[Deja Doh]

At this point it's a push.  

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

Off-topic, but 'C' is okay?  Isn't that a 2.0 index?

A Great

B Good

C Okay

D Bad

F Horrible

(I didnt count the Mead trade. Maybe that brings it to a B- or round off to B.)

[Larry Cook]

Bres-slow’s best trade deadline to date 

although he did previously set the bar pretty low 

[moonslav59]

9 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Bres-slow’s best trade deadline to date 

although he did previously set the bar pretty low 

Was it a mistake to not trade Early and Tolle for Joe Ryan?

[vjcsmoke]

Feels like an F right now because of the vast Overpays but the effects of these moves cannot fully be judged until the season is over. I am content to wait until the season is over for Breslow to be fired. I hope we still make the playoffs obviously. We're 10 games over .500 which is a good place to be. I'm just feeling these moves were desperate.

[Hitch]

A

It might not work out but he went for it. That's what we've been desperate for.

[moonslav59]

56 minutes ago, vjcsmoke said:

Feels like an F right now because of the vast Overpays but the effects of these moves cannot fully be judged until the season is over. I am content to wait until the season is over for Breslow to be fired. I hope we still make the playoffs obviously. We're 10 games over .500 which is a good place to be. I'm just feeling these moves were desperate.

For the here and now, Mead and Early are a push, because both are on the IL.

Rutschman vs Narvaez: while Narvaez is healthy, he's a negative value, despite good D. Rogers can hit as defend as well as the 2026 Narvaez, and Wong playing more was in the plans, anyway. Chance for big plus.

Miller will pitch- Mayer may not have played again, this year. Should be a plus for now.

It's really the future that is the bigger worry.

 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, vjcsmoke said:

I am content to wait until the season is over for Breslow to be fired.

What?  You think Breslow is going to be fired?

[moonslav59]

43 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

What?  You think Breslow is going to be fired?

He does. He always has.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

He does. He always has.

It's one thing to hope so.  It's another to voice an opinion like that aloud.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

It's one thing to hope so.  It's another to voice an opinion like that aloud.

Turtle: meet shell.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Overpay is overrated. What Major League assets did Brez give up to fortify this Major League roster?

A decent lefty starting pitcher, yes. But a young, injury-prone infielder? A defensive catcher with a Sophomore Jinxed bat? 

The Sox have needed more hitters since last offseason and Brez finally added two pretty good ones. They're both just temporarily unavailable.

Hopefully the calvary shows up just in time -- and maybe that even includes a couple stalwarts from last year's offense...

C+ with a chance to improve to a B with extra credit

 

[Hugh2]

I'm giving them an B+

They picked up who was arguably the best bat to move at the deadline (not their fault Mead got hurt) and then picked up and all star catcher, filling in two of their biggest holes. They also got a very intriguing bullpen arm, who is a control tweak away from being a late inning guy. 

I knock them down from an A for failing to get an innings eater and givin up a lot of value.  But I'll take a B+ at ever deadline all day. 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Overpay is overrated. What Major League assets did Brez give up to fortify this Major League roster?

A decent lefty starting pitcher, yes. But a young, injury-prone infielder? A defensive catcher with a Sophomore Jinxed bat? 

The Sox have needed more hitters since last offseason and Brez finally added two pretty good ones. They're both just temporarily unavailable.

Hopefully the calvary shows up just in time -- and maybe that even includes a couple stalwarts from last year's offense...

C+ with a chance to improve to a B with extra credit

 

Azocar was our 6th ranked prospect, but was pretty far away and has a lot to prove,

Brez helped the team for 2 playoff cycles, assuming AR is healthy for 2 Octobers.

We may or may not have hurt our future. While AR's future health is the great unknown, those we traded are production unknowns, too.

[mvp 78]

16 hours ago, vjcsmoke said:

Feels like an F right now because of the vast Overpays but the effects of these moves cannot fully be judged until the season is over. I am content to wait until the season is over for Breslow to be fired. I hope we still make the playoffs obviously. We're 10 games over .500 which is a good place to be. I'm just feeling these moves were desperate.

A if they didn't overpay for Adley (kinda the cost of doing business at the deadline sometimes). The overpay knocks it down to a B IMO. The other trades were fine IMO. 

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I'm giving them an B+

They picked up who was arguably the best bat to move at the deadline (not their fault Mead got hurt) and then picked up and all star catcher, filling in two of their biggest holes. They also got a very intriguing bullpen arm, who is a control tweak away from being a late inning guy. 

I knock them down from an A for failing to get an innings eater and givin up a lot of value.  But I'll take a B+ at ever deadline all day. 

How our SS position does to end the year might be the one we look back and say, why?

I agree on the no innings eater thing, but replacing Watson and Uberstine with Miller looks nice, despite all his walks.

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

A if they didn't overpay for Adley. The overpay knocks it down to a B IMO. The other trades were fine IMO. 

If there was no AR trade and nothing to replace it (no chance,) we'd look at this deadline like the last few. Meh!

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Azocar was our 6th ranked prospect, but was pretty far away and has a lot to prove,

Brez helped the team for 2 playoff cycles, assuming AR is healthy for 2 Octobers.

We may or may not have hurt our future. While AR's future health is the great unknown, those we traded are production unknowns, too.

Most evaluators are swapping Azocar and Witherspoon with their most recent rankings. Azocar is rising and Witherspoon is falling. There are some concerns with his hit tool, but he has a few years to work on it. The rest of his game can carry him to MLB. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

If there was no AR trade and nothing to replace it (no chance,) we'd look at this deadline like the last few. Meh!

If Mead doesn't get hurt? IDK. 

Can't fault Brez for that. 

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Most evaluators are swapping Azocar and Witherspoon with their most recent rankings. Azocar is rising and Witherspoon is falling. There are some concerns with his hit tool, but he has a few years to work on it. The rest of his game can carry him to MLB. 

Understandable, and it's not like Witherspoon is just a minor throw-in, either.

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If Mead doesn't get hurt? IDK. 

Can't fault Brez for that. 

I'm not. The Mead trade gave up several more years of Early for what we hoped was an instant boost to the offense. I liked the trade, but it's not like that trade can be given an A, just yet, and even if Mead was healthy.

[Hugh2]

58 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

How our SS position does to end the year might be the one we look back and say, why?

I agree on the no innings eater thing, but replacing Watson and Uberstine with Miller looks nice, despite all his walks.

Another fact though, is all the short stops in question did NOT get traded at the deadline. 

We didn't get Otto Lopez, but no one did

We didn't get Francisco Lindor, but on one did

We didn't trade for C.J. Abrams, but on one did

We didn't trade for Eli De La Cruz, but no one did.

We didn't trade for Zach Neto, but no one did. 

 

This tells me one of two things happened in each of these situations.  A.) the player was just simply not for sale and there was nothing that could have been done. or B.) The price was so high that not a single team in baseball was willing to go that high and considering what we paid for 1.5 years of a catcher I'd be scared to see what the price for some of those guys might have been. 

I'm not sure we can blame Breslow for not picking up a short stop......no one did.  He did get a 2nd baseman who had the best offensive numbers moved at the deadline.  Unfortunately he got hurt. 

[Hugh2]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not. The Mead trade gave up several more years of Early for what we hoped was an instant boost to the offense. I liked the trade, but it's not like that trade can be given an A, just yet, and even if Mead was healthy.

It also got you several years of control of Mead.  We had a lot more starting pitching depth than we had middle infielders.  

[notin]

19 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Another fact though, is all the short stops in question did NOT get traded at the deadline. 

We didn't get Otto Lopez, but no one did

We didn't get Francisco Lindor, but on one did

We didn't trade for C.J. Abrams, but on one did

We didn't trade for Eli De La Cruz, but no one did.

We didn't trade for Zach Neto, but no one did. 

 

This tells me one of two things happened in each of these situations.  A.) the player was just simply not for sale and there was nothing that could have been done. or B.) The price was so high that not a single team in baseball was willing to go that high and considering what we paid for 1.5 years of a catcher I'd be scared to see what the price for some of those guys might have been. 

I'm not sure we can blame Breslow for not picking up a short stop......no one did.  He did get a 2nd who had the best offensive numbers moved at the deadline.  Unfortunately he got hurt. 

It tells me the price for any of those shortstops included Arias +, and if there was such thing as a capital plus sign, it would be applicable here…

[mvp 78]

30 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not. The Mead trade gave up several more years of Early for what we hoped was an instant boost to the offense. I liked the trade, but it's not like that trade can be given an A, just yet, and even if Mead was healthy.

Sox needed a 2b with pop and Craig found one. Not many RHB moved at the deadline! 

Early now has forearm tightness after a bullpen session and is being shutdown, FYI.