On January 26th, the Chicago Cubs signed Worcester Red Sox utility infielder Karson Simas. The 25th round pick back in 2019 and one of the last of the Dave Dombrowski guys amounted to nothing in 7 seasons in the minors. He played in 78 games in 2022 for the Salem Red Sox and hit a whopping .197. He played in 80 games between Salem and the Greenville Drive the following season and hit .214 combined. Surprisingly he got 20 hits in 61 at-bats for Worcester to end last season which is probably why the Cubs took a flier on him. Good luck in Chicago.
On January 31st, the Sox released two prospects. The first was 22 year old Salem Red Sox catcher Diego Viloria. The acquisition of Nate Baez to the catching ranks made someone expendable and it turned out to be Viloria. He played in just 79 games between 2021 and 2025 for the Dominican Sox, Complex Sox and Salem. He had just 5 hits in 33 at-bats in Salem in 2024 and played in just 11 games last season. Good luck in your future endeavors.
Farewell Viloria
Also released on the 31st was 22 year old Worcester Red Sox catcher Enderso Lira. Once again, with Nate Baez coming to town, organizational catchers had to go. Lira played 62 games for Salem in 2023 and hit a whopping .238. He played in just 44 games since including hitting just .142 for Greenville. Clearly he can't hit so he had to go.
Finally the big trade. Today the Red Sox pulled off another salary dump. The Sox sent 24 year old pitching prospect David Sandlin, relief pitcher Jordan Hicks, a sack full of money and two players to be named later to the Chicago White Sox for 22 year old right handed pitching prospect Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later.
David Sandlin was the pitching prospect in the John Schreiber trade two years ago. He was 0-4 in 18 starts between Greenville and the Portland Sea Dogs in 2024 but rebounded to go 5-4 with a 3.61 ERA last year for Portland before being called up to Worcester. He was 4-2 with a 7.61 ERA out of the bullpen so it didn't look like he was going to pan out. Still, the point is they had to give up a prospect just to unload the Hicks contract.
Quite frankly the Rafael Devers trade was just flat out embarrassing. The centerpiece of the trade was the flamethrowing Jordan Hicks who was heaving 100 mph fastballs directly over the plate. He was 1-2 with an 8.20 ERA and batting practice would be an insult to batting practice pitchers. The reason he was included in the Devers trade was he was due $25 million by the Giants in 2026 and 2027.....which is why the Sox dumped him off to Chicago. Its a shame because he threw hard but it was straight as an arrow. As Kaleb Ort how that turns out.
So who did they get in return? Gage Ziehl was the New York Yankees 4th round pick in 2024 four picks after the Red Sox took Zach Erhard. He was 4-4 with a 4.40 ERA for the Tampa Tarpons before being promoted to the Hudson Valley Renegades.....then got traded to the White Sox for Ausin Slater. He was 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA in 6 starts for the Winston-Salem Dash so in essence, he's a .500 pitcher....in the minors. He's a junkballer that relies on command & control, which seems to be the opposite of what Craig Breslow is trying to build with the power arms they drafted. Still, this was more about getting rid of Hicks than it is about getting something in return.
So let's recap the Devers saga before we all collectively throw up. They signed Alex Bregman last off-season and told Devers he wasn't good enough to play third. Devers wasn't happy but whatever, season begins. Then one month into the season Triston Casas is lost for the season. Rather than go get Nathaniel Lowe right then in there, they asked Devers to play first base for the first time in his career. The same guys telling him he wasn't good enough to play the field is now asking him to play out of position. Devers said no and John Henry himself came to see him in Kansas City to say "Play first or else." Devers said "Or else." On June 15th after the Red Sox dispatched the Yankees, the Red Sox traded Devers to the San Francisco Giants for Jordan Hicks along with prospects Jose Bello, Kyle Harrison and James "Leroy Jethro" Tibbs. Hicks was god awful and Tibbs was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dustin May, who was equally awful. The Sox got beat by the Yankees in the playoffs largely due to the lack of offense and the Sox arrogantly mis-identified the market for free agents, losing Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs. The Sox panicked by trading Hunter Dobbins to the St. Louis Cardinals for Wilson Contreras to get a bat back but they still haven't replaced Devers. Now Hicks has been shipped off to clear 21 million off the books (Red Sox have to pay $4 million) to get under the Luxury Tax. Rafael Devers for 2 awful months of Jordan Hicks & Dustin May along with Jose Bello, Kyle Harrison and Gage Ziehl doesn't seem good does it? Not to mention they still have to give up two more prospects to Chicago when the time comes.
Once again, glass half empty is the Sox never replaced Devers and the fallout of the trade gets worse every day with salary dumps and bad roster moves. The Sox are going into spring training in a few weeks banking on the kids instead of established major league bats. The glass half full is the Sox just got rid of one of their worst pitchers and cleared money off the books they could use down the road. The Sox pitching will be better than it was last year (on paper) and if the rotation stays healthy, they could get ANYONE to pitch better than what Hicks gave them last year.
Bottom line is Sox fans are angry because ownership constantly lies to them. If Sam Kennedy and John Henry came out and said "We're not going to spend money, we're going to play the kids to see what they got" you don't have to like it but at least its the truth. Enough "Full throttle" and pretending that they're going to get Juan Soto or Pete Alonso.
