Deadline Headlines, Sox Make Some Late Moves

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 Written By: Matt Ferreira

Image via Christopher Smith (twitter) @SmittyOnMLB 


 Going into the trade deadline the Boston Red Sox stood alone at the top of the American League East only a game and a half above the Tampa Bay Rays. Many thought that the Red Sox would go all in this year to try and attempt to win another World Series by acquiring big names such as Max Scherzer, Craig Kimbrel, and Anthony Rizzo, but Chaim had different plans.


 Bloom made three deals over the course of the last few days acquiring OF Kyle Schwarber, RHP Hansel Robles, and LHP Austin Davis. 


 Chaim started out late Thursday night acquiring Kyle Schwarber from the Washington Nationals in exchange for RHP Aldo Ramirez. The 2021 All Star was a part of the 2016 World Series champion Cubs that broke the 108 year curse. Schwarber signed a one year deal with the Washington Nationals before the 2021 season and has been tearing the cover off the ball since. This year Schwarber has hit .253 with 25 home runs and has 53 runs batted in in 72 games. Schwarber went on a tear in June hitting 12 home runs in just ten games before ending up on the injured list with a hamstring injury. 



Schwarber is expected to make his Red Sox debut in 10-14 days as he recovers that hamstring. A versatile player, Schwarber played corner outfield and catcher for the Cubs, but the Red Sox just may try their luck with him playing some first base this season to fix a glaring hole in the lineup.


 After the 4 p.m deadline the Red Sox announced two trades, RHP Hansel Robles and cash considerations from the Twins for RHP Alex Scherff, and LHP Austin Davis from the Pittsburgh Pirates for INF/OF Michael Chavis. While these moves may not blow your sox off, (see what I did there) they play an important role with depth and the Red Sox pitching. Hansel Robles this year has a 4.91 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 44 innings and Austin Davis has a 5.59 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 9.2 innings. While this is not impressive to most there are many underlying factors to these trades. 


 Firstly the Hansel Robles trade most likely keeps the Red Sox under the luxury tax threshold as cash considerations were sent along with him. This allows the Red Sox to save money for next season and years after as they do not owe Major League Baseball any extra money for overages.




 The trade also helps the Red Sox bullpen that has used many of the same arms all year long. The rotation and bullpen is being fatigued and it has become visible in the last few weeks as ERAs have been soaring to new levels. Davis, who only has nine major league innings pitched and Robles, who has made deep playoff runs with the Mets, are able to help provide some depth as they can eat up a lot innings for the remainder of the year. 


 Davis could be a really interesting add to the Red Sox bullpen for this year and beyond. Tweeted by @redsoxstats the Red Sox could potentially try to get Davis down to two pitches, fastball and slider, because it seems his weakest pitch (curveball) was extremely hittable causing his numbers to drastically increase. 



His slider and fastball combo could be deadly to the rest of the league, and with Davis under contract until 2026 that gives him some time to figure out what works best for him.


 While many Red Sox fans were not happy with the deadline, it was fairly productive. The Sox did not lose any of their top 20 prospects, maintaining their goal of long term success, and acquired depth and a power bat to help this year’s team make a deep playoff run. All in all, believe in Chaim. 


 




 


Location: Boston, MA, USA

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