The Boston Red Sox made a splash trade this offseason, but there has been a lull in MLB two weeks before spring training.
Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso remain the top free agents on the market, and while Boston is among the favorites to sign Bregman, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for his market.
Meanwhile, the NBA received a lot of buzz a week before its trade deadline when Luka Doncic shockingly was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. While MLB won’t top that, why can’t there be a trade to spice up the offseason?
For that, we can look to Dylan Cease and the Padres. San Diego was strapped for cash in the winter and didn’t make any meaningful moves. On the contrary, it seems the National League West side is interested in shedding payroll after it attempted to go all in crashed and burned. Cease would damage the Padres’ rotation, but he’s a strong enough piece to help their eventual rebuild.
Do the Red Sox need Cease? No. The Garrett Crochet trade and Walker Buehler signing were enough to bolster the rotation. A returning Lucas Giolito gives the staff enough depth with the continued rises of Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford.
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However, Boston could look to the Dodgers for inspiration. Did Los Angeles need to sign Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Roki Sasaki? Not really. The reigning World Series champions were already stacked and signing just one of those pitchers would have been enough. But Dave Roberts knows depth is key to making a deep run in October.
So, while Cease isn’t a pressing need for the Red Sox. It’s never bad to have pitching depth to deal with the grind of a 162-game season. Boston has other priorities to get in order before pitchers and catchers report to spring training. However, if Craig Breslow wants to make an outside-the-box move, trading Cease fits that category.
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