The Red Sox have finally addressed their woeful situation at first base, acquiring four-time Gold Glove winner Eric Hosmer before the end of Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline.
But did the Red Sox target Hosmer because he’s a good player, or they got a good deal?
Bogaerts requests to the Vazquez trade
It looks like the latter, and that should be concerning.
Hosmer, 32, is a league average hitter at this stage in his career for a corner infielder. The 2015 World Series champion is slashing .272/.336/.391 with eight home runs this season, which is still a massive upgrade from Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero. That poor man’s platoon posted the 26th-best OPS at first base in the league. Yuck.
Even worse, the Red Sox ranked 29th at first base in defense heading into Tuesday. Hosmer can make all of the routine plays, and should vastly improve that sorry situation as well.
Too bad he didn’t come here three months ago.
The Red Sox willfully entered the season with a dearth of first basemen. They didn’t try to re-sign Kyle Schwarber, who landed with the Phillies, and leads the National League with 33 home runs. While Schwarber also isn’t a good defender, at least he provides a power bat.
Dalbec and Cordero, meanwhile, are liabilities in both areas.
But the Red Sox went with them anyway. Chaim Bloom and his army of analysts probably ran their calculations and determined the Red Sox could receive X-percent of Schwarber’s production for a fraction of the cost. After all, Dalbec and Cordero are making just $1.5 million combined this season.
And they’ve played like it. Computer simulations don’t always match up with what happens on the field.
The Red Sox could’ve used Hosmer weeks ago, but waited until the waning moments of the deadline to make their most obvious upgrade. If the Red Sox played an actual first baseman over the month of July, in which Cordero cost them multiple games with his horrible defense, maybe Christian Vazquez would still be here.
And Xander Bogaerts wouldn’t be as upset.
Boston didn’t aggressively pursue Hosmer, or seemingly anybody at first base. Instead, Bloom waited for the best offer to come to him. Patience is a virtue, except when it nearly costs you the chance to improve your $200 million team.
The Padres were literally giving away Hosmer. They’re paying $44 million of his salary over the next three seasons.
The Red Sox are paying Hosmer just $2.2 million. It’s hard to pass up a good player when you’re basically getting him for free.
San Diego originally included Hosmer in its blockbuster deal for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, but Hosmer exercised his no-trade clause. If Hosmer went to Washington, the Red Sox would likely still be stuck with Dalbec and Cordero at a prime power position. It's worth noting they didn't make any other discernible upgrades Tuesday, leaving their bullpen bare.
The Red Sox are better with Hosmer, but they also got the much better end of the deal. For Bloom, that seems to be what’s most important.