Interesting. But why not just flip Caminero to Philly for Miller, Painter, Crawford?

So here’s my logic for this trade. The Rays have missed the playoffs 2 years in a row, with 2025 having a worse record than 2024. If they bring everyone back from 2025, their 2026 OD payroll would be about the same as their payroll the past 2 years, so I don’t see them adding players without first trimming payroll. Lastly, they will be back in the Trop next year, which should improve the pitching at the expense of the offense, but probably not have much effect on their overall record. Add it all up and I just don’t see this team being a playoff team in 2026 (and 2027 could be a lockout year). So what should the Rays do? My preference is for them to extend JC for about 10 years, but if JC balks at that, then maybe the Rays should trade him. Wasting 1-2 years of his career seems like a bad idea. Both Philly and Boston could use him but I like Philly’s farm better and Dombroski must be feeling the heat to get the Phillies over the hump. So with this trade, the Phillies trade their future for the present. JC was a 4.6 fWAR player in 2025 who got better as the season went on. He could easily be a 6+ fWAR player next year. And he’s pre-arbitration for 2 more years, which will allow the Phillies to be players in free agency (after trading Bohm of course). JC could be the final piece to a WS quality roster. Now, this trade could be just between the Rays and Phillies, with Painter going to the Rays, but I don’t love the idea of nearly half the trade return being a pitching prospect coming off a not great 2025 season and who didn’t play in 2023-24, so that’s the reason for Boston’s involvement. Boston has a surplus of outfielders and they opt to trade Abreu in this trade. He’s a lefty, which Philly could use. In return for Abreu and a couple good but lesser prospects, Boston gets a top 25 overall pitching prospect who could be an Ace if things work out and a very good reliever, both of whom would help the team in 2026 and beyond. Boston gets better with this trade. Philly gets a lot better from this trade over the next few years, which is all they care about. Rays are focused on the 2028 season and beyond. They get 6 really good prospects at areas of need for the future. Everyone wins, right?