It’s looking increasingly likely that the deal that sent Christian Vazquez to the Houston Astros for Wilyer Abreu will be remembered not only as Chaim Bloom’s best trade during his tenure at the helm of the Red Sox, but as one of the best trade’s in recent baseball memory. Abreu has already won two Gold Gloves and isn’t that far off from making the all-star team; he could do so as early as this year and it wouldn’t be all that surprising. On the other side of the deal, Vazquez has compiled a total of -0.1 bWAR for the Astros and Twins since the trade. And to make matters worse for Vazquez, now he doesn’t even have a place on a Major League roster as we enter the 2026 season. But he’ll be playing for Puerto Rico in the WBC, and he hopes he can parlay that into a job somewhere. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
Speaking of trades between the Astros and Red Sox, Isaac Paredes trade chatter is back in the news cycle. While the Sox are seemingly comfortable with their outfield surplus, the Astros infield surplus is said to be “untenable,” with the team continuing to explore a move to clear the logjam and bring in a lefty bat. The Sox and Astros haven’t been in contact for a couple of weeks now, but they had engaged in “thorough discussions” about Isaac Paredes earlier in the offseason and the Astros reportedly may try to rekindle things. (Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic)
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Of course you wouldn’t think the Sox had an outfield surplus based on the spring training lineups they’ll be running out over the coming weeks. All four of the team’s primary outfielders (that’s right, we still got four starting outfielders!) will be participating in the World Baseball Classic, along with the team’s maybe-DH/maybe-outfielder Masataka Yoshida. That’s going to make it hard for Alex Cora to fill out the lineup, but it’s also going to create some spring opportunities for guys like Braiden Ward. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
Team Brazil has a connection to the Red Sox as well. Angels minor leaguer Lucas Ramirez will be suiting up for the baseball version of the Canarinho, but his father once took the field for the Dominican Republic. That’s because his father is Manny Ramirez. (Martín Gallegos, MLB.com)
And finally some injury news. Carlos Narvaez was scratched from the game with back spasms yesterda, but it’s nothing serious and he plans on playing this afternoon. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
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