Red Sox Almost Landed MVP Before Yankees, Per Ex-Boston Exec

The Boston Red Sox have pulled off some impactful trades over the years.

That's obviously an understatement. Boston has thrived in the trade market with the club's most recent big deal being for Garrett Crochet. The lefty ace has been phenomenal for Boston and has a 2.39 ERA so far in a league-leading 19 starts this season.

Over the years, there have been plenty of other big trade additions for Boston, including Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, and Chris Sale among many others. But, there obviously are plenty of deals that never got done. We only see the ones that did happen, but there are far more than ever were agreed to and so when an executive opens up about potential deals, that's interesting.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers shared a column on Monday in which he spoke with various executives about some of their best stories. Former Red Sox executive Jed Hoyer shared a story about trading Manny Ramírez and how there was a time in which then-Miami Marlins prospect Giancarlo Stanton was discussed.

"In 2008, Hoyer's Red Sox were looking to move on from Manny Ramirez, who wanted out of Boston," Rogers said. "'Manny was really disgruntled about his contract,' Hoyer said. 'He had two club options with no buyouts. He was forcing his way out. We felt like we had to do the deal.' The deal was 'convoluted,' according to Hoyer, because it involved multiple teams as the clock was ticking down on deadline day.

"It looked like it was never going to get done," Hoyer said. "It was a last-second three-team deal. That was the most confusing one because there were so many cooks in the kitchen. At one point, the Marlins were involved with a young (Giancarlo) Stanton."

The Red Sox ended up landing Jason Bay, who was an All-Star for Boston in 2009. But, he didn't last with the Red Sox after that and was with the New York Mets in 2010.

At the time of the deal, Stanton hadn't made his big league debut yet. He debuted in 2010 with the then-Florida Marlins and went on a historic eight-year run before being traded to the New York Yankees. Stanton was named the 2017 NL Most Valuable Player before being moved to New York.

Imagine if the Red Sox brought him to town? Obviously, things would've been different and who knows if he would've had the same opportunities, but his bat would've certainly played at Fenway Park. Oh well. What could've been.