As the Boston Red Sox officially begin their daunting post-All-Star break schedule, the trade deadline is in full focus. It wasn't long ago when the Red Sox were considered, at best, buyers and sellers. Following a 10-game winning streak going into the break, however, Boston is back in business and is now expected to be in hard pursuit of upgrades. Finding another starting pitcher is the top priority, but not far behind that is upgrading the bullpen and perhaps upgrading the first base platoon. But looking at the starters, it seems like José Soriano might have the Red Sox's eye.
Red Sox insider Rob Bradford of WEEI reported on Friday that Boston has "been asking around" when it comes to the 26-year-old starter in Los Angeles. It's not hard to see why, especially given what we've seen with Craig Breslow and, just as much, Andrew Bailey and the pitching lab. Not only does Soriano still have three more years of arbitration remaining, but the stuff remains exceptionally enticing.
In 20 appearances with the Halos this season, Soriano is sporting a 3.90 ERA with a 1.451 WHIP, though his 3.35 FIP suggests he's been a bit unlucky to some degree. Yet, his best has been truly elite, it's just been inconsistent. Considering what the Red Sox have done with a more extreme version of that in Jorge Alcala already this season, though, he fits Boston's M.O.
That makes the upside swing of trading for Soriano obvious for Boston. If they can get a guy with high-end stuff into the pitching lab and iron out kinks, he could be huge for the rotation down the stretch. However, the inconsistency isn't the biggest risk that the Red Sox would be taking on in acquiring Soriano.
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Red Sox should be wary of rumored Jose Soriano trade
What has to worry Breslow and Boston about Soriano is the simple fact that the Angels might've already run the right-hander into the ground this season. We're coming out of the All-Star break and Soriano has already matched his career-high of 113 innings pitched, which he set last year. Sure, he's young and there is always upside to stretch him further — we're seeing that now with Garrett Crochet. At the same time, though, we're venturing into purely unknown territory with the young starter.
Acquiring someone like Soriano in the offseason with plans to stretch him out further would make a ton of sense. Doing so at the trade deadline, however, would represent the Red Sox taking on unnecessary risk. They'd be banking that Soriano is ready to go the rest of the season without his stuff regressing, all while not having been working with him until July at the earliest.
The trade deadline for buyers, which the Red Sox are at this point, is about adding pieces that the front office believes will meaningfully aid a playoff push. Soriano could absolutely do that if all goes well. However, there is a lot of variance in the outcomes that could play out if Boston were to trade for him. And that's before you figure in the cost of trading for a pitcher who has three years of control remaining.
Put simply, there are probably better options for the Red Sox to upgrade the rotation. Joe Ryan might be a pipe dream, but targeting a Merrill Kelly or another veteran rental would not only be less prohibitive in terms of cost, but could also be a surer bet to help this team into the postseason than Soriano would be.
And if they really covet Soriano that badly, circle back around to him in the winter, just like Breslow ultimately did with Crochet last year.