The Red Sox Are Among The Teams Interested In Sonny Gray, Also Looking To Add Power-Hitting Third Baseman-Reliever Combo
I might actually have a stroke this trade deadline. Not even joking. My death certificate might read, “Cause of death: Dave Dombrowski depleting the entire Red Sox farm system, setting the franchise back a decade.” I’m telling you; this guy don’t give a fuck. If there’s one thing that Red Sox fans have learned about Dave Dombrowski after nearly two years of him being in Boston, it’s that he cares about prospects about as much as Pablo Sandoval cares about his cholesterol levels.
Could the Red Sox be putting together yet another big prospect package for yet another starting pitcher? Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has the details:
Gray is thus far the belle of the trade-season ball, though it’s early yet. What’s becoming more obvious is that it’s not just the Yankees, Astros and Cubs that are in on Gray. The Boston Red Sox have quietly sent some of their most respected evaluators to his last two starts. This could fall under standard due diligence, but one source familiar with their intentions said the Red Sox are keen for Gray – and when president Dave Dombrowski targets a player, the price for other teams jumps accordingly.
Yes, Doug Fister looked fine Sunday, but the prospect of him being a long-term solution at the back end of the rotation isn’t nearly as appealing as adding Gray to a rotation with Chris Sale and a bunch of question marks. Considering one of those costs $210 million (greetings, David Price!) and the other is the reigning AL Cy Young winner (here’s to regression, Rick Porcello!), giving up yet another prospect haul is far from ideal.
Another possibility, according to another source, is that Dombrowski pursues a power-hitting third baseman and stack a relief pitcher to fill the role Tyler Thornburg was supposed to before his season-ending surgery. Closer Craig Kimbrel has been almost unhittable this season. And with Kimbrel and Joe Kelly locking down leads, another arm to give the Red Sox a trio like the 2014 Royals or 2016 Yankees might be too tantalizing for Dombrowski to pass up. The issue – the same one the Nationals are confronting – is whether that sort of impact reliever actually exists.
Getting Gray may be easier than the third base-reliever combo. Every team wants someone like him, more because of what they believe he can be rather than what he has been.
Okay, so just to sum things up — the Red Sox have been scouting Sonny Gray, who would obviously not be cheap to acquire, and the Red Sox are also considering trading for a package that would include a power-hitting third baseman and a reliever who could replace Tyler Thornburg’s role in the bullpen for the rest of the year. Passan notes that acquiring Gray would be easier than trading for a package that would include a power-hitting third baseman and a Thornburg-type reliever, and I’d agree. Why? Because the Red Sox traded a power-hitting third baseman (plus three other prospects) for Tyler Thornburg himself, so imagine what it would cost to acquire both.
Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that the Red Sox could pull off a deal for a power-hitting third baseman and a reliever, what teams would make sense as a potential trade partner with Boston? Well, the obvious answer is the White Sox. Todd Frazier has been linked to the Red Sox pretty much since the third week of April when Pablo Sandoval went on the disabled list the first time, and everybody with a brain knew that Sandoval’s comeback tour was over after three weeks.
If you were to go out and get Frazier to play third, I wouldn’t want White Sox closer David Robertson to come with him. Remember, you’re looking to replace Thornburg, not Craig Kimbrel. I’m looking at 27-year-old right-handed reliever, Tommy Kahnle. He’s appeared in 31 games for the White Sox this year and has struck out 52 batters in 30.2 innings with a 1.47 ERA and an 0.82 WHIP. By the way, that WHIP ranks ninth in the majors among the 107 relievers who have made at least 30 appearances this year, and his K/9 (15.26) is third in that group behind Kimbrel and Corey Knebel of the Brewers. This season has not been the norm for Kahnle, so it would be a sell high move for Chicago.
He also has a little bit of a history with shoulder issues, but that was back in 2014 when he was with the Rockies. Oh, and he can hit triple digits on the radar gun and averages around 98 MPH with his fastball. If you want a power arm to pair with Kimbrel and Joe Kelly, that’s your guy. But again, at what cost? Frazier is a rental, but Kahnle is under team control through 2020. Basically, you’d be trading for Carson Smith again.
Mike Moustakas was the other big name being thrown around as a potential third baseman, but the Royals have won 11 out of their last 14 games to pull within 2.5 games of first place, so they don’t appear to be sellers at this particular moment. Those were the two big names being thrown around, and then you had guys like Yangervis Solarte and Martin Prado, who don’t really interest me much.
There is one name that I find interesting that hasn’t been mentioned a whole lot, and that would be old friend Jed Lowrie. After the 2011 season, the Red Sox traded Lowrie and Kyle Weiland to the Astros for Mark Melancon, who was a disaster for Boston, but has gone on to find great success in the National League, although he has struggled a bit this year.
Anyways, back to Lowrie. He’s now 33 years old, and in his second stint with the A’s. He also had two stints with the Astros. Could he have a second stint with the Red Sox? The switch-hitting infielder is hitting .283 with an .831 OPS, 24 doubles and 8 homers in 2017. Lowrie is actually one double shy of tying Mookie Betts for the American League lead in doubles. To be honest with you, I like this fit a lot. He’s played in Boston before and can handle the expectations here (unlike Sandoval), he can switch hit and not suck at it (unlike Sandoval), he can play third base and not suck at it (unlike Sandoval), he’s a great teammate (unlike Sandoval), and at $6.5 million this year with a $6 million option for 2018, he’s affordable (unlike Sandoval). I’m all aboard the Bring Back Lowrie train.
Who’s the reliever you want with Lowrie, though, Sean Doolittle? He missed all of May and the first week of June with a strained left shoulder, but has struck out 11 of the first 20 batters he’s faced since coming off the disabled list without allowing a run on just one hit through his first six appearances since returning. He’s pretty cheap, too. He’s only owed $2.6 million this year, $4.35 million next year, and a pair of club options for $6 million in 2019, and $6.5 million in 2020. But all those years of control and affordability just make him that much more valuable of a trade piece. He’s not as good, but 36-year-old Ryan Madson likely wouldn’t cost as much as Doolittle, and he could still fill the Thornburg void for you.
As for Sonny Gray, would I want him in the Red Sox rotation? Of course I would. He’s had a couple of shitty starts that have really inflated his ERA this year, but he’s one of the best pitchers in the American League. That being said, I’m comfortable with a rotation of Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Drew Pomeranz with Doug Fister as your backup plan. Like I said, Gray hasn’t been a sure thing this year either. The greater area of need is the bullpen. Address that, get a third baseman who can actually play third base and maybe swing it a little bit, and call it a deadline. The rotation isn’t costing the team as many games as not having a bridge to Kimbrel or some thump in the lineup has been.