Sox Lose Drohan, Yankees Get Soto (12/6/23)

Its early in the hot stove season but the New York Yankees put a cigarette out on the heads of the Boston Red Sox as they acquired superstar outfielder Juan Soto and gold glove outfielder Trent Gresham from the San Diego Padres for essentially flotsam and jetsam. The Yankees sent mediocre reliever Michael King, mediocre catcher Kyle Higashioka, young pitchers Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez and number 2 ranked pitching prospect Drew Thorpe who went 11-2 between Hudson Valley and Somerset last season. With the Alex Verdugo trade yesterday, the Yankees added three quality bats and defenders while giving up essentially pitching prospects, King, Weissert and Higashioka. The only concern in New York is Rich Fitts and Drew Thorpe were supposed to be their future stars on the mound and now they're gone. But their need was offense after finishing 29th out of 30 teams in batting average, even worse than the Red Sox.

                                                            Yankees get stronger

And what did the Red Sox do at the winter meetings? Get weaker of course. For the second year in a row the Sox got plundered in the Rule 5 draft. Number 3 ranked pitching prospect Shane Drohan, who dominated Portland last year before flopping in Worcester, went to the Chicago White Sox. 22 year old Salem Red Sox pitcher Jose Ramirez also went to the White Sox with Drohan. Brock Bell of the SAL Champion Greenville Drive went to the Cincinnati Reds, Ryan Fernandez of the Worcester Red Sox went to the St. Louis Cardinals, Ryan Miller of the Portland Sea Dogs went to the Los Angeles Angels, 22 year old right handed pitcher Railin Perez went to the Houston Astros, 21 year old first baseman Alexis Hernandez went to the Toronto Blue Jays and 20 year old Dominican prospect Johnfrank Salazar also went to the Cardinals. The biggest loss was Worcester fan favorite Ryan Fitzgerald going to the Kansas City Royals, he was their unofficial franchise player. So after the Sox lost 9 guys, who did they get? Just one...28 year old backup catcher Mickey Gasper of the New York Yankees. They lost one of their best pitching prospects and their most popular triple A player and got just a backup catcher closer to retirement than prospect status. Not good.

                                                     Breslow's one pick.....a backup catcher

Not all was lost though. The Sox did make one move that might work out. They traded 10th round pick, left handed pitcher Ryan Ammons to the New York Mets for 26 year old right handed pitcher Justin Slaten. Slaten was picked up in the Rule 5 draft by the Mets from the Texas Rangers. He put up good numbers for Round Rock in AAA and he's closer to ML ready than Ammons was coming off an injury. If nothing else, he could be Worcester's closer this coming season. Ammons becomes the first casualty of the 2023 draft class that actually signed.

                                                                    OUT

                                                                       IN

All in all this was a bad day for the Red Sox. The Yankees got a generational talent in Soto and the Sox got a triple A backup catcher and a triple A relief pitcher. Combined with losing 9 guys in the Rule 5 draft....fans are getting impatient. They have every right to be after the franchise steered right into the toilet after the 2019 season and totally sucked the last two years. Still, if the endgame of getting pitchers like Fitts and Slaten is to get Dylan Cease or unloading Alex Verdugo's contract means more money for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, go for it. The only difference is with the Yankees reloaded on offense, the Sox now HAVE to make a move. If Breslow fails to make a splash, its going to be another long year in Boston.