Boston Blockbuster? MLB Writer Pitches Red Sox Trade For Ex-Cy Young Winner

Craig Breslow keeps talking as if the Boston Red Sox will be buyers. In July, we'll find out if the chief baseball officer meant what he said.

The Red Sox enter play Tuesday with a 42-44 record, three games back of the third and final American League Wild Card spot. They've stagnated since Breslow traded their best hitter, Rafael Devers, to the San Francisco Giants on Jun. 15.

However, if the Red Sox are going to be buyers, the offense doesn't project as their primary need. They'll return the injured Alex Bregman and Masataka Yoshida to the lineup soon enough, but there's no similarly reliable player coming to help the rotation.

That led Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report to pitch a massive, risky trade for the Red Sox on Tuesday.

In an article of hypothetical trade proposals, Reuter concocted a trade in which the Red Sox would acquire starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara from the Miami Marlins in exchange for shortstop prospect Franklin Arias, outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia, and right-handed pitching prospect David Sandlin.

"At first glance, Sandy Alcántara is having a tough season with a 6.98 ERA and 1.48 WHIP over 80 innings of work in his return from Tommy John surgery," Reuter wrote. "However, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner still represents a potential impact addition to a team's rotation for the playoff push."

"The 29-year-old has a $17.3 million salary for the 2026 season and a $21 million club option for 2027, so he is more than just a rental. Any return package will need to reflect that remaining control."

The issue with an Alcantara trade is that the gap between the price teams will want to pay (based on his current ERA) and the price the Marlins will want (based on his Cy Young Award) is about as massive as can be. And this proposal leans the Marlins' way.

Either Arias or Garcia is going to wind up becoming a good big-league regular, and perhaps both. Meanwhile, Sandlin's elite velocity gives him the floor of a solid bullpen piece if he stays healthy. That's a lot to give up, even for 2 1/2 years of Alcantara.

Regardless, this is the type of swing the Red Sox need to take if they're going to be playoff contenders. No more half-baked deals like the ones they made last deadline for Danny Jansen, Lucas Sims, and Luis Garcia (oof).