Trade Deadline isn’t the Sox Trade Deadline

There was a report this morning that the Sox are still looking to move Clippard, Gonzalez, and Holland.  This was met with an uproar about how it would be impossible to trade Holland or Clippard and why the Sox are not looking to move Abreu.

Abreu

Let’s address the last one first.  Abreu is controllable through 2019 and it’s possible they extend him beyond that since most think his bat will age well and he could be a valuable DH on the competitive teams.  So they are most likely asking a lot for him.  With the teams in the playoff race mostly having 1b solved and the existence of Yonder Alonso, the market for Abreu right now will not get the return they’d want.

On to the others.

Gonzo, Clippard, Holland

All three of these guys make within $250k of each other.  Clippard being the highest paid at $6.15 mil and Gonzo at $5.9 mil.  This means that after today, they’re still owed enough that they’ll probably pass through waivers as teams out of contention will most likely not risk taking on those salaries.  So today’s trade deadline means very little to moving these guys.

Gonzo has had a decent July and would provide rotation depth to teams with injuries in the back end of their rotation.  It’s not unreasonable that he would get moved.  You wouldn’t get a whole bunch back, but another lottery ticket for an impending free agent seems like a good haul.

I talked about Holland previously and still think a move to the bullpen to be a lefty specialist would improve his trade value after the deadline.  Nobody is going to take him as a started with his $1 mil bonus at 150 innings pitched and his inability to handle right handers.

Clippard is interesting because people all of the sudden think he’s the worst pitcher in the league.  Until 6/12, he had a 1.73 ERA and was pitching very well.  He’s had some rough outings since then, but that’s not indicative of the pitcher he’s been over the course of his career.  It’s not insane to think that a few good outings could change the minds of GMs who lose out at the deadline today.

-Chorizy-E