JerseyJoey

Pitching is part of Run Prevention (unless the measurement is FIPs) How many extra "Outs" did Raffeala and Durbin make? Two Assists by Abreu (ok in August) Fewer XBases taken by batters and runners. Good fielding (vs the mess of two years ago) is a significant part of the RedSox Run Prevention.

Agree. This will be a fill-in to pick up some SP innings they need as the innings leash limits Tolle, Bennett and Sandoval. He won't start a playoff game unless he surprises (as Crochet can't come back). Think Nick Pivetta or Jake Peavy. Sure would be nice if Kutter Crawford or Tanner Houck could pitch.

He's basically a strong AAA prospect to be a top-of-rotation SP that "hasn't taken" to MLB. But I wonder what the price would be? RedSox are pretty strong at the top of their rotation w. Grey, Suarez (oh yeah, Crochet), and there's a lot of upside with Tolle and now Bennett.. I think they need a bottom-of-rotation guy who hopefully can give them 7 decent (out of an expected 10) starts for the rest of the season so they can slow down with Sandoval, Bennett and even Tolle. But please better than Dustin May!!?

What we have now. But the article points out that even with 5/6ths less work, the innings clock/"leash" may affect the rookie starters. Will need some more innings from . . . Bello? Crochet?

I would agree that these 4 players are a critical part of the RedSox success this year (amazing!), but NOT "Key to their trading plans". The ones you listed aren't going anywhere. Durbin, Abreu and Contreras are rock-solid, irreplaceable at their positions. Tolle is one of many SP's, but as written, one of the Top 3 (given current injuries). Tough start last night, but a few of those groundball singles could have been outs if a a few degrees left or right. Had plenty of swings & misses too. Much likely to be "Key to their trading plans" are the players who are either a) trade-able, replacement parts or prospects -- A "spare" SP (pick one): Sandoval, even Bennett, and maybe Rivera; Or perhaps a SS/Inf: perhaps Cheng or Monasteria (if the Never-Health Story returns) b) player that are replaceable due to their lack of production -- Duran, who we all want to root for, and is showing signs of life, but is a black-hole in the line-up at a position that needs to be productive offensively. Those much smarter than me haven't come up with the obvious (a RH power hitter) to the roster that Breslow should trade for. Heck, they/we were hoping for the same thing in February, even as Boras/Soros led St. Alex to the Cubs and bestowed a $175m on his aging backside. So who you going to get instead? Pete Alonso? Aaron Judge? Breslow likes pitching and he's done quite well there . . . so I wouldn't bet against another short-relief upgrade to back-stop Chapman and Whitlock. Guerrero and Moran aren't bad, but you can never have enough solid relief pitching when you play multiple games that count. Not sexy but a pretty solid place to invest.