Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has found a bat -- at the cost of one of his talented, young pitchers.
As first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Red Sox are trading 24-year-old left-handed starter Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals in exchange for 25-year-old infielder Curtis Mead. The Red Sox later confirmed the 1-for-1 deal.
Mead, a right-handed bat, is in the midst of a breakout season, with 17 home runs, 48 RBIs, a .256 average and .856 OPS in 86 games. He has moved around a bit in the field, making 47 appearances at third base, 34 at first, and six at second.
It was not immediately clear what Mead's primary position will be with the Red Sox, or if he'll continue to move around. Caleb Durbin, who has been excellent defensively at third base, recently told The Boston Globe that he would be willing to move to second if Boston traded for another third baseman.
Mead has put up similar numbers against both righties (.827 OPS) and lefties (.895). That is notable because while much has been made of the Red Sox needing a right-handed bat, they have actually been much better against lefty pitchers as a team (.772 OPS, 4th in MLB) than righties (.682 OPS, 29th in MLB).
Early is a steep price to pay, though. While he has been out since June 30 due to injury, Early has shown promise in his young career, including a 7-5 record and 3.44 ERA in 17 starts this year in his first full big-league season.
Pitching has been Boston's strength all season, so on the surface, trading an arm for a bat makes sense. The question will be whether Mead is a big enough difference-maker offensively to justify moving one of the Red Sox' valuable young starters.
With Ranger Suarez returning from the injured list Sunday, Boston's rotation moving forward will consist of Suarez, Sonny Gray, Payton Tolle, Jake Bennett and Patrick Sandoval. Sandoval, who has made three starts since returning from Tommy John surgery that cost him two years, is the question mark there, and would have been most likely to exit the rotation if/when Early returned.
Bennett's emergence this season as a quality start machine (6-3 record, 2.58 ERA in 10 starts) seemingly allowed Breslow to be more willing to move Early than he otherwise might have been.
