By Trading Connelly Early, Red Sox's Craig Breslow Avoids Classic Blunder

0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Listen, we get it. People love prospects. And few have loved their own prospects in recent years as much as the Boston Red Sox .

The Red Sox have become known for their reluctance to part with their young talent. Some of the moves they didn't make, such as not trading Payton Tolle and Franklin Arias last year, look smart in hindsight. Others, such as keeping Jarren Duran, Brayan Bello and Marcelo Mayer despite reportedly reasonable offers, aren't looking so hot. Sometimes -- though not always -- inaction is the best action.

That trend contributed to Saturday's deal being a refreshing chance of pace.

In trading rookie lefthander Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for versatile infielder Curtis Mead, the Red Sox showed they weren't wedded to a player simply because he was young, cheap and theirs. Although Early, 24, impressed late last season and won a spot in the rotation coming out of spring training, the list of young pitchers who have burst onto the scene yet disappointed over the long run is a mile long.

The Red Sox have plenty of examples on their own staff, including Bello and the terminally injured Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck.

Credit Craig Breslow for dealing from a position of depth to reinforce an area of need. Mead, 25, is only a year older than Early, and can't become a free agent until 2031. He's capable of playing first, second and third base, although he's only played six games at second base, where he may fit permanently in Boston. Incumbent third baseman Caleb Durbin has said he would be willing to change positions if it helps the team win, though.

Red Sox fans were predictably dismayed by losing Early, especially for Mead, who until this year has been a negative-WAR player. But you need to give up something of value to get something of value. Breslow's predecessor Chaim Bloom seemed unwilling to do that at times, which is how players like Triston Casas, who were enticing commodities a couple years ago, are still on Boston's 40-man roster without any clear purpose.

For as much hype as the Red Sox give their top prospects, trading them away has worked out pretty well for them. Catcher Kyle Teel netted them Garrett Crochet and, farther back, Yoan Moncada got them Chris Sale. They're probably not spiking the football over the trade that brought in Durbin, Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler for David Hamilton, Shane Drohan and Kyle Harrison last offseason, but that's the point: These things are unpredictable. You can't let unpredictability scare you into doing nothing.

Whether Mead, whose advanced numbers suggest is actually hitting even better than his traditional statistics show, ends up outperforming Early is crucial, of course, but it's also sort of beside the point. This Red Sox team finally has started to play up to its preseason expectations , and now that it's time for bold moves, they're actually taking the necessary chances, without fear.

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