Red Sox-Nationals Predicted Blockbuster Is Too Good To Be True

The Boston Red Sox want a young, "impact" starting pitcher. The problem is that teams rarely give those pitchers away.

With the trade deadline only nine days away, the Red Sox hold the last Wild Card spot in the American League by 1 1/2 games. They know they need to make a splash, and nothing would be splashier than landing a bona fide number-two starter to put behind ace Garrett Crochet.

Minnesota Twins All-Star Joe Ryan? Probably not gonna happen. Kansas City Royals All-Star Kris Bubic? Still leaning towards no. But now, Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer is opening another can of worms.

On Tuesday, Rymer predicted that the Washington Nationals would send their lefty All-Star, Mackenzie Gore, to the Red Sox in a pre-deadline stunner.

"MacKenzie Gore wasn't in the conversation a week ago, but that began to change as he was representing the Washington Nationals at the All-Star Game. And now, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, teams are calling and Nats general manager Mike DeBartolo is listening," wrote Rymer.

"Gore is a perfect match (for Boston) on paper... As to whether he would be worth parting with, say, a Marcelo Mayer, a Wilyer Abreu, a Kristian Campbell or a Payton Tolle, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow should heed his own advice: 'I think we've talked a lot about looking to the future, at some point, the future has to be now.'"

It's true enough that Gore would be a fantastic get for the Red Sox. His ERA ballooned to 3.59 after a stinker against the San Diego Padres coming out of the All-Star break, but he's still got 140 strikeouts (fifth in all of baseball) and 2.8 bWAR this season.

But even as the Nationals' rebuild stalls, and even with a new front office inserted midway through the season, Washington will ask for the world for 2 1/2 years of this blossoming lefty. Because it's the middle of the season, Boston would have to give up even more (probably) than they did in the December blockbuster for Crochet.

Breslow's shown this year he can make the big trade (remember Rafael Devers?), so it wouldn't be a complete shock to see the BREAKING: notification for a Gore-Red Sox deal. But at this juncture, it feels too good to be true.