The 2026 Major League Baseball trade deadline has come and gone. The Boston Red Sox traded players from their minor league teams as well as position players from their current MLB roster. The Sox upgraded here, added there, subtracted some, and in the end wound up with a fresh sets of bats, gloves, and arms for the dog days push to the playoffs. Did the Red Sox get it right this year, did we trade equally with other teams, or did we give the farm away? As the game is not played on paper, we shall see starting tonight when the Sox hit the Fens to face the 1st place Chicago White Sox.
I was thinking about the trades that the Boston Red Sox have made over the past several seasons and took to pen and paper. On the top of my head, I wrote down all the players the Red Sox have traded and came up with quite the list. Enough players, in fact, to build a starting lineup, have at least 2 or three starting pitchers, some relievers, and a utility player or two. How good would the Red Sox have been had they not traded these quality players? Could a lineup of former Sox beat the current Sox? We can only speculate. Let’s start with the defensive lineup and some replacements that are still active MLB players, either starters or role players:
- SS – Mookie Betts (LAD)
- SS – David Hamilton (MIL)
- Utility – Marcello Mayer (SFG)
- 3rd Base – Rafael Devers (SFG)
- 3rd Base – Vaughn Grissom (CAA)
- 3rd Base – Yoan Moncada (CAA)
- 2nd Base – Chase Meidroth (CHISOX)
- 2nd Base – Nick Yorke (PIT)
- 1st Base – Blaze Jordan (STL)
- OF – Brayden Montgomery (CHISOX)
- OF – Andrew Benintendi (CHISOX)
- OF – Jhostynxon Garcia (PIT)
- C – Kyle Teel (CHISOX)
- C- Carlos Narvaez (BLT)
And now some of the former Red Sox pitchers traded:
- Connelly Early (WSH)
- Chris Sale (ATL)
- Kyle Harrison (MIL)
- Hunter Dobbins (STL)
- Shane Drohan (MIL)
- Cam Booser (TB)
The obvious ones that jump off the page are Chris Sale and Mookie Betts. Rafael Devers will go down as one of the biggest head scratchers in my book. Chase Meidroth and Brayden Montgomery are the real deal and making a huge impact for the Chicago White Sox. Marcello Mayer, Blaze Jordan, and Kyle Teel were Boston Red Sox minor league prized prospects for years. Both Vaughn Grissom and Yoan Moncada were traded in some capacity for Chris Sale both to and from the Red Sox. The list of young pitchers like Connelly Early, Shane Drohan, Hunter Dobbins, and Kyle Harrison bothers me because quality pitching is such a commodity for a Major League organization. Veterans like David Hamilton and Andrew Benintendi always seem to find a way to get it done at the plate in a tough situation.
Could this lineup featuring former Boston Red Sox players traded away beat the current Boston Red Sox team? Sure on a good day and Chris Sale on the mound. In a series, likely not. Still, it is hard to root against these former players when they come to Boston to face their old team or if Boston is on the road facing them in their new home ballpark. Mookie Betts is still one of my favorite players. Blaze Jordan looks primed to enter an amazing phase in his baseball life. And Chris Sale, well he just keeps pumping in strikes and getting W’s for the Atlanta Braves. In the end, baseball is a business and these players that have been traded away from the Boston Red Sox know that fact all too well. As the years pass, the trades will be graded and evaluated and analyzed and we shall truly get to the bottom of whether trading these players away was a good thing or not.
Go Sox!!!
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