Red Sox & Dodgers
Submitted by: JHB
Red Sox
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bobby Miller | 25 | Majors | SP | 5.1 | 23.3 | 4.6 | 18.7 | 15 | 18.7 | 22.5 |
Total Value:
18.7
Dodgers
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael Devers | 27 | Majors | 3B | Medium | 9.1 | 285.5 | 267.6 | 17.9 | 14.3 | 17.9 | 21.4 |
Total Value:
17.9
Comments
11
👎, I’d keep the bat over the arm
Signing Burnes and then trading Devers for salary relief and adding Miller doesn’t work for me. You can’t replace Devers bat in the line up without certainty. Casas was having a nice start to his career until he got hurt so that still needs to play out. Wong, Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, Hamilton all took steps forward in ‘24 but there is still to much uncertainty surrounding each of them in different ways and I think it still needs to be played out with each of them as well. Story has the injury bug so that needs to be planned for. O’Neill is probably gone and Yoshida is what he is. Second base is wide open for the taking I would think along with 1 of the Catcher spots. Middle of the order bats are just as important to the team as top of the rotation pitching and just as hard to acquire. Devers, for better or worse, is the face of the franchise right now and the heart and soul of the lineup. I don’t think this trade works well for the team.
I'd suggest that Jarren Duran and Tanner Houck are the faces of the franchise, with Hamilton, Casas and Story ready to step up to the challenge. Devers is the best pure hitter when healthy, but sometimes he's not, sometimes he's streaky, and sometimes it seems he's just not a leader. Look back at 2004--ditching Nomar, the voice of Logan Airport, let alone the Red Sox--was the last piece in the puzzle.
I could see a Mayer trade for SP and the Red Sox opening day line up in ‘25 being; C - Wong/Teel, 1B - Casas, 2B - Campbell, SS - Story, 3B - Devers, LF - Anthony, CF - Rafaela, RF - Duran, DH - Yoshida, with Abreu, Hamilton & Refsnyder joining Teel on the bench.
NEWSLETTER? SURE, SIGN ME UP!
Arms, plural? This is a trade of two quality players, but saving enough Red Sox payroll to cover a top free agent starting pitcher, too. The Dodgers, of course, add Devers to Freeman, Betts, and Ohtani. Muncy declined significantly in 2024; this corrects that issue.
I’d keep Devers bat over Millers arm and a free agent signing even if it was Burnes
Devers's bat over: 1) Miller's arm; 2) Most of Burnes's arm; and 3) Mayer's bat and glove? In a world of $300 million payroll-which FSG could afford for the Red Sox-I'd see your point. But with a $200 million payroll in the AL East, I'd submit that clearing a spot for Mayer, acquiring Miller cheaply, and snagging a top arm is a better answer.
Pass, I’m not trading Devers for Miller, who I believe is hurt, and not to make room for Mayer, who is always hurt and afflicted with Brandon Lowe disease- always unavailable due to nagging injuries that either put him on the IL or on the bench nursing an injury and needing a couple days to get right, but productive when available. Devers should bring back someone like Skenes or Cole not a hurt prospect
Cole is a free agent. Skenes is more valuable than Devers. Trading Devers frees the money to sign Burnes, estimated at $30.4 million per year per SPOTRAC.
I didn’t necessarily mean either specifically….Henri can free up the money anytime he wants. If I have to choose I’d choose to spend the money on the bat, not the arm.
But Mayer needs a place to play, while the pitching lineup is short. Miller has averaged 98 mph on his fastball since the ASG, and again, it's really Burnes + Miller + Mayer for Devers.