If this becomes a disaster, maybe the Astros trade for Alex Bregman to play 2B in a couple of years. Especially many contracts will expire.
So Dansby Swanson and Bregman are teammates now…. A decade after going #1 and #2 overall in the draft. I felt bad for the Red Sox, they jettisoned their previous Franchise 3rd baseman in Devers in favor of Bregman. I guess they figured they were going to retain Bregman with charm! Bregman and Tucker made it clear with the Astros they were seeking deals for absolutely the maximum amount of money they could extract from market.
Why shouldn't they? Crane's offer was pretty spot-on to Bregman in 2024 $$. Also if their respective teams are in the gutter, Crane will always look to get them back for a discount (and recoup the extra nostalgia merchandise/ticket sales).
This is likely what many future Astros studs will do. It’s incredible that we have kept the door revolving so well. Crane has been a stud of an owner.
No reason to feel bad. Neither of those guys were playing at a discount to their market - so the Red Sox got out of a big long-term contract, got some prospects, and freed up money to sign equivalent levels of players. They lost specific players, but they aren't any worse off in the long-run. It would be different if they had to pay a bunch of Devers salary to offload him, but they didn't. Collected a few prospects too (no idea if they have any value).
cribbed from OWA: Since Craig Breslow was hired as Boston’s GM: -traded Chris Sale and millions of dollars to Atlanta for Vaughn Grissom, who sucked and is already with another org, while Sale immediately won a Cy Young -signed Alex Bregman at the cost of a second-round pick, destroying their relationship with Rafael Devers, who they then traded to San Francisco -traded the best prospect they got for Devers to the Dodgers in exchange for a half season of Dustin May, who sucked and is already with another org -lost Bregman in free agency, leaving a giant hole at 3B This after his predecessor traded Mookie Betts for a half-chewed pack of sunflower seeds.
No, they freed up $30MM/yr which they can use to sign a similar guy. Unless the guy was outplaying his contract, you can replace him with an equivalent player - one that's not unhappy that he can't play a position he's not good defensively at and maybe would be a better fit for their team. For example, now (if they wanted to), they can go get Bichette or Tucker or whomever for that money and be in the same general place they were - hopefully with a player who wants to be there. Salary is an opportunity cost. Trading someone who's underpaid brings back value. Trading someone who's overpaid requires you to give up something extra. Trading someone who's fairly paid often doesn't bring much of value. That's fairly normal.
