The Boston Red Sox made one of the more influential moves of their recent franchise history when they traded four prospects to the Chicago White Sox for ace Chris Sale in 2016.
Say what you want about how the contract post-extension ended for the Red Sox. Boston got what they needed at the time and had a championship to show for it with Sale right in the middle of the action.
The tall left-hander struck out 308 batters in his first season with the Red Sox in 2017. He started the All-Star Game for the American League in back-to-back campaigns and recorded the final out as Boston won the 2018 World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The prospects from the Sale deal never truly elevated the White Sox and the Red Sox embraced their ace to win a title. What a win that was for Boston.
Sale became another key supplemental star to what the Red Sox built for multiple years prior to that. Boston finished in last place in the American League East in 2014 and 2015. Those seasons saw the first full campaigns for young building blocks Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr., among others. David Price signed to lead the group in 2016 and Andrew Benintendi made his MLB debut.
That offseason offered an established young core for the Red Sox, and they acted accordingly to spend prospect capital for Sale. J.D. Martinez added the finishing touch a year later, and the Red Sox won it all in 2018.
Baseball has a way of repeating itself, and this franchise could follow a similar path back to the top.
How? Let’s take a look.
The Red Sox put together an unexpected deep playoff run in 2021, which brought them to the American League Championship Series and two victories away from a trip to the World Series. Boston did not build upon that core, and most of that group eventually departed.
Over the next three seasons, the Red Sox battled average-to-below-average production in the win column at the MLB level. While commitment to investing in the roster may have appeared blurred at time to the public eye, the commitment to establishing Boston’s next young core offered the highlight in a gloomy sequence at Fenway Park.
During the current three-year playoff absence, Boston has welcomed the first full seasons from its next round of foundational players in Triston Casas, Brayan Bello, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and multiple others. That doesn’t even include the prospect wave on the way, with talents like Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer.
That’s always been the key to nearly every Red Sox championship window: Get the kids to the show and bring the stars when they’re ready.
That supplementation started in the right direction Wednesday when the Red Sox acquired Garrett Crochet from the White Sox for four notable prospects – Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez.
That’s a steep price, but it’s what the market demanded, and the Red Sox acted decisively to get their man.
Back to the point, however. The Red Sox trading for a tall lefty from the White Sox with ace-level stuff once they’ve established their next young core.
Where have we seen that before?
To be exact, it was eight years and five days ago.
Now, there’s hope for this story to have a similar ending. An ending where Crochet elevates the pitchers around him, emerges as an ace and leads the new-look Red Sox to another championship in the near future.
Can the Red Sox strike again? We’ll see what 2025 has in store.
