For  five long  years, the Boston Red Sox â mainly under then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom â collected talented young prospects, both through the draft and in the international amateur signing market. And they hoarded those prospects.
Bloom made 41 trades during his tenure, which ended with his firing on September 14, 2023, mostly acquiring minor league prospects in exchange for established Major League talent.
No example made the Red Sox priorities under Bloom more clear than his February 9, 2020, trade of 2018 American League MVP and unshakeable Boston fan favorite Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers for that organization’s No. 1 prospect, Alex Verdugo, as well as No. 8 and no. 14 prospects Jeter Downs and Connor Wong.
Under Breslow, Market For Prospects is Now Open
With the hiring of new CBO Craig Breslow â himself a Red Sox pitcher in 2006 and again from 2013 through 2015 â all of that changed. The new approach was made apparent on December 13, 2024, when Breslow packaged four top Red Sox prospects and sent them to the Chicago White Sox for lefty ace Garret Crochet.
That prospect package was headed by one of the “Big Four,” Boston’s top-ranked quartet of prospects who had previously been considered “untouchable” in trade negotiations. That was catcher Kyle Teel, the Red Sox first-round draft pick, 14th overall, in 2023 â Bloom’s final first-rounder.
But in case anyone got the idea that Breslow was simply unloading Bloom’s picks, he also included his own first-ever Red Sox draft pick, 2024 first-round selection (12th overall) Braden Montgomery. The deal also included Boston’s No. 11 prospect, infielder Chase Meidroth, and No. 14, righty pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez.
It was the type of deal that would have been unthinkable in the Bloom era. But does Breslow have any other previously taboo prospect trades in the works? According to a stunning prediction by longtime ESPN MLB senior writer David Schoenfield, he just might.
The “Big Four”prospects are now down to a “Big Two,” with the trade of Teel and promotion of second-baseman Kristian Campbell to the big club, where he has quickly established himself as the favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year (at least according to odds posted by Fox Sports). And if Schoenfield’s speculation proves correct, they may soon be reduced to a “Big One.”
Predicted Trade Sends No. 2 Prospect to Miami
According to the ESPN prognostication, the Red Sox are better positioned than any other team to make a trade for Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner who is currently trying to reestablish himself following a 2024 season lost to Tommy John surgery.
Alcantara is off to a halting start as he pitches his way back into form, with a 6.56 ERA over 23 1/3 innings in five starts for the 2025 Marlins. But on a team with the lowest payroll in MLB at $67.9 million â and no indication that the organization has plans to change â the 29-year-old’s salary of $17.3 million consumes 25 percent of Miami’s entire player spending.
That makes him the Marlins’ top trade candidate.
For the Red Sox â who will pay more this year to the trio of Alex Bregman, Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman than the entire value of Alacantara’s five-year, $56 million contract â taking on the pitcher’s salary should not be a big deal.
But who do the Red Sox trade to get him? According to Schoenfield, the prospect package would likely be headed by Boston’s No. 2 prospect, Bloom’s 2021 first-round pick, fourth overall, shortstop Marcelo Mayer â who was signed with a full-slot-value $6.64 million bonus.
Mayer’s path to the big leagues is currently blocked by Trevor Story, whose six-year, $140 million deal still has three years (including the current one) remaining. Trading Mayer to Miami would allow him to jump to the majors immediately, making the proposed trade a beneficial one for the player as well as for the teams involved.
But a trade of Mayer would leave No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony as the only remaining member of the “Big Four.”
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