Red Sox Named Top Trade Destination For $56 Million Ace To Pair With Garrett Crochet

After a memorable trade for a starting pitcher this winter, will the Boston Red Sox repeat the feat before the July deadline?

Garrett Crochet has been everything the Red Sox could have asked for through four starts, posting a 1.38 ERA in 26 innings. But the rest of the rotation has been shaky at best, and Tanner Houck, Boston's chosen number-two starter behind Crochet, has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball.

The Red Sox have dealt with injuries on top of ineffectiveness, and suddenly, it doesn't look as though the rotation is as much of a strength as they may have hoped or thought it would be. Could they make yet another splash trade to turn their fortunes around?

On Tuesday, MLB Network hosts discussed the Red Sox as a potential trade fit for Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, who will be the biggest name teams are chasing this summer if he finds anything close to his 2022 Cy Young Award form.

"The Boston Red Sox are loaded," Greg Amsinger said. "They've got a logjam of position players, the Marlins want to stack as much talent as possible, and other than Garrett Crochet, Dan, that rotation's having a hard time."

"Yeah, that would be quite a right-left, one-two tandem, right?" co-host Dan Plesac responded. "Alcantara and Crochet, that would make the Red Sox's stock go way up."

Even if Brayan Bello and/or Lucas Giolito returns to the rotation soon and excels, the Red Sox could use another workhorse like Alcantara. His contract is also extremely team-friendly (five years, $56 million running through 2026, with a $21 million club option for 2027).

Where things get tricky is the prospect return. Miami will be looking for a massive haul, and while Amsinger alludes to the Red Sox being "loaded," much of their top talent is untouchable at this point. Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell are guaranteed to be off the table, and Marcelo Mayer may be as well.

Alcantara could be a massive addition for the Red Sox, possibly installing them as the front-runners to win the American League pennant. But big-time trade acquisitions always come with future risks, as Boston well knows.