The Pink Sox at this time acquired three-time all-star first baseman (former catcher) Willson Contreras — and $8 million in money to pay down a part of the $41.5 million that continues to be within the final three years of his contract — from the St. Louis Cardinals (clearly) in alternate for Hunter Dobbins, single-A prospect Yhoiker Fajardo (#8 within the system in line with Soxprospects.com), single-A non-prospect Blake Aita (#36), and . These are the small print of the deal. Now to the vital half: must you complain about this?
Let’s begin with this: Willson Contreras might be higher than you assume. Don’t simply roll your eyes on the 20-25 run energy and dismiss his potential as a center of the order bat. This man hits the ball about as onerous as anybody in baseball and he hits it to left subject, which is strictly what the Pink Sox lineup wants. His .358 xwOBA final season was the Twenty fifth-best mark in all of baseball. The 2025 Pink Sox didn’t have one single hitter who completed the top-75 of that metric final 12 months.* No, Contreras has by no means put up the monster residence run totals that both Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarber do. However he’s a feared bat in his personal proper, and he performed a superb defensive first base final 12 months, too.
(*In fact, that solely applies when you don’t contemplate Rafael Devers a member of the 2025 Pink Sox. He completed sixteenth.)
As for the associated fee, it’s completely acceptable. Hunter Dobbins is a younger and comparatively polished pitcher who seemed good in his mini rookie run this season. I absolutely count on to observe him pitch within the majors for the following decade and assist his groups win. What I don’t count on is to ever see him within the high half of a rotation for a World Collection contending crew. He has a restricted ceiling and was — at finest — the eighth arm on the Pink Sox beginning pitcher depth chart. Pitching depth is nice to have, however there may be a couple of manner to make use of it. A kind of methods is to commerce it for a middle-of-the-order bat.
However guess what: if you wish to complain in regards to the deal, you possibly can! You may complain that Contreras will likely be 34 subsequent 12 months. He’s virtually actually getting worse on daily basis from right here on out, and generally (most instances?) the top comes extra all of the sudden than simply about anybody expects. You may complain that he nonetheless solely replaces one of many at present lacking bats that belonged to Devers and Alex Bregman on opening day final 12 months, and that he actually doesn’t absolutely substitute the previous. You may complain that the Pink Sox may’ve added a middle-of-the-order of the bat and held on to Dobbins in the event that they’d been prepared to open the pockets a bit extra. You may complain that the Pink Sox now have two gamers who can solely play first base and DH on the roster, together with a 3rd who can solely DH, together with 4 starting-caliber outfielders who all must play on daily basis. The image of the roster is now arguably murkier at this time than it was yesterday. You may complain that the Sox insisted on getting money within the deal, which probably precipitated them to surrender extra participant worth than they in any other case would have (dropping Yhoiker hurts me greater than Dobbins, to be trustworthy). So many issues to complain about!
In the end, although, the 2026 Pink Sox are higher proper now than they have been right now final night time. There will likely be additional trades that make clear the roster (proper?). And a number of the points may work themselves out (let’s not neglect: the crew nonetheless doesn’t know whether or not Triston Casas will likely be prepared for Opening Day subsequent 12 months).
It’s the awful midwinter, however the range is sizzling and the Pink Sox have a brand new bat within the lineup. That is enjoyable?
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