I'm going on MY personal opinion as well as what SoxProspects/Baseball America and other say. I always defer to the guy with the better pitch mix, which is why I really like Early at the beginning of his pro career.
Regardless, having Eyanson/Valera/Witherspoon and being able to compare and contrast is a problem we've really never had before. Can't complain!
Eyanson and Phillips both pitched in ST and we can go off reports from there. I also believe in Eyanson's pitch mix and history of starting more than Phillips.
Would you have traded 3.5 years of Duran for .5 years of Cease, Salas (who hasn't OPS'd above 600 since '23) and some unnamed prospect? I wouldn't have.
I'd still keep Witherspoon ahead of Valera as he's a bonafide starter. Valera could still end up in the pen. Witherspoon has 5 pitches and a history of starting. Valera is still new to starting, being a DSL guy. Valera's secondaries are also worse at the moment than Witherspoon's. The question to me is how do Valera and Eyanson stack up. I think Valera has a slightly higher ceiling (as a starter), but Eyanson is more likely to stick as a starter.
MLB Pipeline has a good writeup and some video of Valera's start:
https://www.mlb.com/news/red-sox-prospect-juan-valera-career-high-nine-strikeouts?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
I think the worry is he has a high hard hit % and it's pulled (53.5%). Probably need to see him do it in the warmer weather when the bats heat up before we can believe in his arm.
It would have had to be and absolute haul of Mayer plus Dobbins, Fitts, Fajardo, etc. (guys already traded away during the offseason if they weren't going to trade Tolle/Early).