Even Without Rafael Devers, the Red Sox Need to be Buyers on the Rental Market

Trades are needed but not rentals.  Long term on offense the following players are supposed to be the future:

C - Narvaez, 1B-Casas, 2B-Campbell, SS-Mayer, 3B-Bregman, LF- Anthony, CF - Duran, RF- Rafaela and DH- Abreu with Wong, Story, Toro and Refsnyder the reserves.

This offense is lacking power with Devers gone.  The team has a $18 Million dollar wasted player who is not as good as Abreu/Refsnyder at DH.  So, the goal needs to be to deal Yoshida and pick which starter above is not a potential all-star at their position.

Duran has been one.  Rafaela may be the best defender and if moved to RF he will win GG for the next decade.  Anthony has the star next to his name as an expected all-star.  Abreu/Refsnyder are very serviceable players but nothing special.  Narvaez COULD be an all-star or he may simply be experiencing a career year like Wong last year.  Bregman is an all-star.  Mayer also has a star next to his name as an expected all-star and Campbell the Minor League Player of the Year has earned a star next to his name.  Casas, is an enigma, but does have excellent upside potential.

So where is an upgrade needed for immediate talent growth for the roster?  I think Cal Raleigh stands out as a trade worthy opponent simply because he replaces Devers power and is an all-star catcher.  Having two studs or trading Narvaez to get Raleigh are both acceptable ideas.  The deal needs to include Yoshida and any prospects not listed as starters above other than Abreu and Refsnyder as potential candidates for the trade including any of the players we received in the Devers deal.

Additionally, I personally feel Kurtz from OAK has a far higher ceiling than Casas so trading Casas and prospects to get him makes a lot of sense.  That would leave a 2026 starting defense that would be Division Championship worthy and an offense that should be at the top of the heat within two years.

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I think that's when a more substantial trade could be made. Right now, it'd be for expiring contracts or dealing for prospects. 

Or a contract that has short term < 3 years, but has fallen underwater and a sweetner for taking the bad contract.

Where's Harmony? This guy is proposing we get Cal Raleigh for a package that includes Nav and Yoshida (and unnamed prospects).

Can anyone name 5 players right now with more trade value than Cal Raleigh, signed 6 years at a modest amount and one of the only catchers that can really hurt you?

24 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Sometimes you have to just ignore the really crazy stuff. 

Roman, Campbell, Dobbins, Duran, Harrison, Sandlin

for 

Judge, Jazz

Right but I need Harmony to appear to so I can use my Joe Hendry joke

24 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

SEA wouldn't take Nav, KC, Masas and $5M a year for Cal.

They wouldnt take Roman and Masas and Nav and 10m/yr either.

I dont think they take anything.

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

They tried trading Casas and Masa last offseason and couldn't pull the trigger. Now that they've been injured, how are they going to get those deals done? Seems like they'll be stuck with both for a while unless they are eating a substantial portion of Masa's deal and take pennies on the dollar for Casas. 

There is always one more choice.  What percentage of the top 20 prospects in the Red Sox organization will make it to the MLB in your opinion?  My guess is 30 to 50% at most.  That means 50 to 70% of them won't so those players get thrown in the deals rather than buying down the Yoshida money.  Casas is a talented player and will start for somebody in the future.  Kurtz to me has a higher upside so a decent prospect plus Casas should get a deal done since it's Oakland and they like the prospects in deals to stock their future. 

Yoshida is a DH with limited defensive skills.  A team like Colorado is using Tyler Freeman at DH.  Giving them Yoshida and 3 or even 4 of the farm system guys in the unlikely to make the MLB category for Hunter Goodman would be a great trade for both teams.  Colorado needs to build for the future and Goodman is second to Raleigh in my opinion at catcher.  We need the upgrade at Catcher because Wong was never 1/2 the solution at catcher.  Narvaez and Goodman would be a great combo, and Goodman has backed up at 1B for Colorado.  He's a power hitter and helps close the gap with Devers gone with respect to HR power. 

I think Yoshida and at least 3 non-top end prospects to a team rebuilding is the way to reduce salary while adding value.

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

SEA wouldn't take Nav, KC, Masas and $5M a year for Cal.

i'm sure they won't deal Raleigh but i bet they would deal Harry Ford, their overall #5 prospect, who is currently manning the backstop at AAA Tacoma. 

2 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i'm sure they won't deal Raleigh but i bet they would deal Harry Ford, their overall #5 prospect, who is currently manning the backstop at AAA Tacoma. 

FWIW this year Seattle prospect catcher Harry Ford has posted a .313/.425/.483/.909 line with a wRC+ of 138 and `17.7 percent strikeout rate in 55 games at Triple A Tacoma.

The 22-year-old Ford may be the top Mariner trade chip at the July 31 deadline.

Or not.

6 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Where's Harmony? This guy is proposing we get Cal Raleigh for a package that includes Nav and Yoshida (and unnamed prospects).

Can anyone name 5 players right now with more trade value than Cal Raleigh, signed 6 years at a modest amount and one of the only catchers that can really hurt you?

Seattle would be unlikely to trade Mitch Garver for that Red Sox package.

BTW Cal Raleigh and Garver combined for four home runs and eight RBI in today's 9-4 win over the first-place Chicago Cubs. With his 28th and 29th roundtrippers, Raleigh now has the most home runs in MLB history for a catcher before the All Star break.

1 hour ago, harmony said:

Seattle would be unlikely to trade Mitch Garver for that Red Sox package.

BTW Cal Raleigh and Garver combined for four home runs and eight RBI in today's 9-4 win over the first-place Chicago Cubs. With his 28th and 29th roundtrippers, Raleigh now has the most home runs in MLB history for a catcher before the All Star break.

Yeah, my hunch was Cal was a top 5 asset in baseball, which is why I through it out there to the forum if they could name 5 better values, and it turns out BTV has Cal 5th, and I disagree with 2 in front of him.

I dont think he's this good, though. As in #2 value in the league only behind Bobby Witt.  But I may be biased towards a few guys who I like because I like playing as them in MLB the show (xbox)

But I maintain, there is no package within a football field of reasonable that Seattle entertains for Cal Raleigh. 

24 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Cal just passed Bench for more pre ASB homers, and he did it in 14 less games!

Thats nuts

2 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Yeah, my hunch was Cal was a top 5 asset in baseball, which is why I through it out there to the forum if they could name 5 better values, and it turns out BTV has Cal 5th, and I disagree with 2 in front of him.

I dont think he's this good, though. As in #2 value in the league only behind Bobby Witt.  But I may be biased towards a few guys who I like because I like playing as them in MLB the show (xbox)

Let's not forget that last season Cal Raleigh won the Platinum Glove as the best defensive player in the American League at any position.

https://www.mlb.com/news/cal-raleigh-brice-turang-win-2024-platinum-glove-awards

And who leads all catchers in stolen bases this season ... by a significant margin?

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The Sox don't need a #1 catcher. Backup catcher? Sure. They need pitching and a way to clear out some of the other dead contracts on the books.

Raleigh was a first pick for his power and HRS to replace Devers', the fact that we are temporarily OK at catcher was also a factor.  We said we were OK at catcher in 2024 with Wong and we were WONG!!!  I'd love to see Narvaez work out as an all-star catcher going forward but I know Raleigh will be.  The future Red Sox need depth in the category of all-stars like the old days.  

None of that disagrees with your assessment that we need pitching, but we still need to replace Devers' power too.