Tomase: Grading Chaim Bloom's biggest trades with Red Sox
Chaim Bloom joined the Boston Red Sox a year and a half ago with a clear mandate: cut payroll, rebuild the farm system, and construct a sustainable winner.He has certainly shredded a roster in desperate need of retooling. Only 14 players remain from the 40-man he inherited, including injured pitchers Chris Sale and Ryan Brasier.Bloom has said goodbye to stars like Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, and Jackie Bradley Jr., as well as some lesser lights you probably forgot existed, like Mike Shawaryn, Travis Lakins, and Juan Centeno.While Bloom has been active on the waiver wire, in free agency, and in the Rule 5 draft, today we want to grade his five major trades. All of them tell us something about the chief baseball officer's approach to the job, his willingness to take risks, and the trust he puts in his internal evaluations even when they conflict with conventional wisdom.He already owns more hits than misses, which bodes well as these surprise early contenders of 2021 position themselves for greater success down the road.
Date: Feb. 10, 2020
The deal: Sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers with David Price and cash for outfielder Alex Verdugo, infielder Jeter Downs, and catcher Connor Wong
Evaluation: Betts did not fit Boston's long-term window, not at $350 to $400 million. Placed in the wretched position of trading a former MVP and World Series winner as his first big move, Bloom nonetheless managed to turn one year of Betts into three intriguing players.
Verdugo has emerged as a core piece, with numbers that surpass those of Betts five weeks into the season, for whatever little that's worth. The 24-year-old may never win an MVP like his predecessor, but he could very easily make his first All-Star team this season.
He symbolizes so much of what the Red Sox have done well, from taking what he's given offensively and using all fields, to delivering in the clutch, to playing with energy and excitement. He went 2 for 6 in Thursday's win over the Detroit Tigers to stretch his league-leading on-base streak to 24 games. He's hitting .315 with an .886 OPS.
Verdugo alone already looks like a better return than previous teams have secured for trading a transcendent star. The Rangers turned Alex Rodriguez into two overrated years of Alfonso Soriano. All the Expos had to show for Pedro Martinez was Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. The best player the A's got for All-Star Josh Donaldson was sub-.500 right-hander Kendall Graveman.
The Royals might be the best comp after sending Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to the Brewers in 2010 for what ended up being core pieces of their World Series winners five years later -- Gold Glove center fielder Lorenzo Cain and shortstop Alcides Escobar.
The point is, it's actually hard to get these trades right. That Bloom acquired a quality big leaguer, his best prospect (Downs), and a catcher with power -- all while removing half of Price's salary and all of his poisonous attitude -- is a win.
Call me crazy, but as much as it hurt to lose Betts, I love this trade.
Grade: A
Date: Aug. 21, 2020
The deal: Sent closer Brandon Workman and reliever Heath Hembree to the Phillies for right-handers Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold.
Evaluation: This may not be Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek for Heathcliff Slocumb, but it's Bloom's version of a home run.
Sending Workman and Hembree to a pseudo-contender desperate for bullpen help was the easy part. Identifying Pivetta as the centerpiece of the return was not.
The Phillies had already given Pivetta a shot to start, and after showing some flashes, he had blown it, pitching himself first into the bullpen and then the minor leagues. When the Red Sox acquired him, he was a mess in the midst of yet another mechanical overhaul, desperate to rediscover the promise that had produced 188 strikeouts in 164 innings in 2018.
Seeing his potential as a starter required serious squinting, because he had posted a 5.50 ERA with the Phillies. But Bloom loved Pivetta's 6-foot-5 frame, his mid-90s fastball, and the elite spin rate on his curveball. The Red Sox sent him to the alternate site for a month of honing before he made two excellent starts in September.
Pivetta opened 2021 in the rotation and has yet to lose a start in his Red Sox career. He's 4-0 with a 3.23 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 30.2 innings this season, exhibiting the kind of hyper-competitive demeanor that calls to mind old friend Rick Porcello.
Seabold, meanwhile, opened eyes by pumping his fastball to 96 mph in spring training, but he's currently sidelined with a sore elbow that the Red Sox aren't deeming serious.
As for Workman and Hembree, they were atrocious in Philadelphia. Hembree has since hooked on with the Reds and Workman is actually back with the Red Sox after signing a minor-league deal on Thursday.
Grade: A+
Date: Feb. 10, 2021
The deal: Traded to the Royals with cash for outfielder Franchy Cordero and two players to be named later. The Royals sent outfield prospect Khalil Lee to the Mets, who sent right-hander Josh Winckowski and a player to be named later to the Red Sox.
Evaluation: We tackled this trade in some depth earlier this week, and our thoughts haven't changed -- we won't be able to evaluate it until the Red Sox receive the three remaining players to be named.
That said, we do know a few things. For one, Benintendi sure looks like he has rediscovered his mojo, and that could make the deal an unequivocal loss. He extended his hitting streak to 10 games on Thursday and has raised his average from .193 to .272 in just two weeks. Thin in the outfield beyond Verdugo, the Red Sox could certainly use a player like Benintendi.
Cordero, meanwhile, looked ticketed for Worcester, at least until he was forced into duty on Thursday and responded by going 3 for 5 with some of his loudest contact of the season. Thus far, our fears about Cordero have come to pass -- the impressive tools don't add up to an impressive player, though I suppose there's a chance he figures it out.
For now, the Royals have no regrets. While it's tempting to give this one an incomplete, we'll grade it thusly: There are three more prospects coming, which means there's a chance it won't be a total loss.
Grade: C-minus
Date: Jan. 25, 2021
The deal: Effectively purchased from the Yankees in order to acquire prospect Frank German, a right-handed pitcher.
Evaluation: This deal raised eyebrows immediately, and not just because it represented only the third trade between the two rivals in nearly 25 years. It was also strange because the big-market Yankees couldn't afford a relatively productive player, and the acting-like-a-small-market-team Red Sox stepped up to bail them out.
The Red Sox viewed the trade as an opportunity to add an established late-inning reliever, yes, but primarily to use the roughly $8 million they'd be assuming in salary to buy a prospect. As with the Benintendi deal, we won't know how it worked out until German either pans out or flames out.
What we do know is there are probably better ways the Red Sox could've spent $8 million on their 2021 roster than Ottavino, who has proven distressingly inconsistent through the first five weeks.
He's basically walking a batter an inning while trying to find his fastball command, and this after posting a 5.89 ERA during the shortened 2020 season. He may eventually straighten out, but there's a chance this is money wasted.
Grade: C
Date: Aug. 30, 2020
The deal: Traded to Padres for outfielder Jeisson Rosario and third baseman Hudson Potts.
Evaluation: It's easy to forget, but Moreland started last season on fire, hitting .328 with eight home runs for a going-nowhere team in his walk year. That made him a prime rental for a contender and the Padres bit for the price of two mid-tier prospects.
The early returns are inconclusive. Rosario showed up to spring training out of shape and Potts strained an oblique. With the minor league seasons finally starting this week, the Red Sox will get a better look Rosario, who opens at Double-A Portland, while Potts remains sidelined.
Rosario possesses good on-base ability and the potential to play center in the big leagues, while Potts could hit for some power. Neither boasts a particularly high ceiling.
Then again, the Red Sox didn't surrender much. Moreland was a goner in free agency anyway, and after posting disappointing numbers (.203-2-8) in San Diego, he signed with the Oakland A's this winter.
Grade: C
