Question of the week: Grade the trade deadline

[mvp 78]

32 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. 

[Hugh2]

30 minutes ago, notin said:

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…

Yes, but keep in mind that no other team traded for those guys either.  Every other team interested looked at the price and said "yeah....that's too much"

I'm sure they wanted Arias PLUS a boatload. 

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Yes, but keep in mind that no other team traded for those guys either.  Every other team interested looked at the price and said "yeah....that's too much"

I'm sure they wanted Arias PLUS a boatload. 

I'm glad Craig did his due diligence. I'm glad he ultimately passed. 

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

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

That's always a pet peeve of mine.  If a guy gets traded in the off-season, then questioning whether we should've matched is fair game.  But if a team held onto their player, it either means they had no intention of trading them, or their ask was so high that none of the other 29 teams wanted him.

edit-Having finished reading your post, it appears that you said the same thing.

[vjcsmoke]

On 8/7/2026 at 8:55 AM, mvp 78 said:

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. 

Assuming the Red Sox can extend Adley Rutschman long term and if he plays at an all-star level the next 5 years, I will give the trade a big thumbs up. But if he turns into Trevor Story, injury prone and underperforming, I will grab a pitchfork and join the mob to throw Breslow out to the curb.

Breslow is taking a very big gamble and he gave away several of the Red Sox TOP minor league prospects to pay for this deadline move.

[notin]

28 minutes ago, vjcsmoke said:

Assuming the Red Sox can extend Adley Rutschman long term and if he plays at an all-star level the next 5 years, I will give the trade a big thumbs up. But if he turns into Trevor Story, injury prone and underperforming, I will grab a pitchfork and join the mob to throw Breslow out to the curb.

Breslow is taking a very big gamble and he gave away several of the Red Sox TOP minor league prospects to pay for this deadline move.

What if Rutschman, Eyanson, Witherspoon and Azocar all flop?

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, vjcsmoke said:

if he plays at an all-star level the next 5 years, I will give the trade a big thumbs up. But if he turns into Trevor Story, injury prone and underperforming, I will grab a pitchfork and join the mob to throw Breslow out to the curb.

Waiting until you see how the trade works out before giving a thumbs-up is not discussion-worthy.  If we extend him and get 5 years of AS level work, 9B people will give it a thumbs-up.

IRT the pitchfork, you'll be there as a mob of 1.

[moonslav59]

On 8/5/2026 at 2:29 PM, Old Red said:

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.

So, tell us your grade right now, and give leg room to come back later and defend the praise criticism or meh opinion.

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

What if Rutschman, Eyanson, Witherspoon and Azocar all flop?

It would be a C, unless Rogers leads us to a ring or Narvaez turns it around.

[vegasbob]

Strictly my opinion and a guess  at that but Breslow traded a pitcher with a sore elbow, who now is shut down with the UCL precursor.

I think that was prescient and a great deal.