3 Red Sox second half call-ups who can serve as trade additions of their own

The MLB trade deadline is the perfect time to acquire talent to make the postseason push that every team is pursuing. Sadly for contending teams, 2024 was the year of the sellers. Prices for the major league players were quite higher than expected with some teams dishing out a ton of prospect capital to acquire the talent they wanted.

The Miami Marlins were able to completely turn their farm system around with the deadline.

But teams like the Boston Red Sox were buyers, but not too aggressively as to ruin their farm system. In fact, the Red Sox could and likely will look to add to their major league roster from their farm system. They have quite a few options to choose from down there including one of the best infielders in all of the minor leagues.

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3. Luis Guerrero, RHP, Triple-A

The easiest place to add to the big-league roster is in the bullpen. More often than not, almost every big-league team has a few pieces in their bullpen that just aren't up to par with the rest of the guys out there.

Boston looked to fix this over the last few weeks, and they patched a few holes by acquiring Luis Garcia from the Angels and Lucas Sims from the Reds. These are a few big upgrades and the Red Sox got them for cheap, in comparison to the market value on relievers this year.

But they have to continue upgrading the bullpen. That's where Luis Guerrero, Boston's 29th-ranked prospect, comes into play. The 23-year-old currently sits in Triple-A where he pitches out of the bullpen.

Guerrero has 40 innings on the season where he holds a 3.60 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Opponents are hitting just around .200 off of him, but like most relievers, walks have haunted. His fastball, slider and changeup are all three quality offerings with his fastball and changeup leading the way. He has a big-league arsenal and if he gets enough work with the Red Sox pitching coach, he could exceed expectations down the stretch.

2. Richard Fitts, RHP, Triple-A

The Red Sox looked to upgrade their rotation before the deadline, but they didn't really make a meaningful acquisition. They had their sights on trade pieces like Jack Flaherty, Blake Snell, Garrett Crochet and many more, but for one reason or another, none of these trades panned out. Boston ended up making a move to bring veteran James Paxton back to the team. Paxton has had a solid season, but he's not really the addition that many wanted.

Luckily for Boston, they have quite the highly touted pitching prospect sitting in Triple-A right now. Richard Fitts, the team's ninth-ranked prospect, currently sits in Triple-A and he could make his big league debut at any point. If anybody in the starting rotation struggles or is injured, he's likely the next man up for Boston.

Fitts, unlike most top pitching prospects, doesn't struggle with command. In fact, his command is one of his better traits. He could still use some polishing with the approach and his pitch shapes, but for the most part, he's a quality arm with solid stuff and good command. At the very least, he would be a solid middle-relief option down the stretch of the season. I'd expect to see him in Boston in the near future.

1. Marcelo Mayer, SS, Double-A

And now we're to the part of this piece that every Red Sox fan is here for. The Red Sox top prospect and a top 10 prospect in the entire league, Marcelo Mayer, could and should make his debut this season. I completely believe that.

The issue here is that Boston doesn't want to stunt his growth by bringing him to the big leagues too quickly. That's completely understandable, but there's a very easy solution to this problem and it begins by bringing the young shortstop up to Triple-A first.

The 21-year-old is far too developed for the Double-A level. He's slashing .307/.370/.480 with 28 doubles and 13 stolen bases this season. You could make the argument that he has performed well enough to make the jump straight to the big leagues as some top prospects have done in the past.

The safest option is Boston elevates him to Triple-A as soon as they can. If he performs well in his first 10 or 15 games, bring him up and slot him in the lineup and in the middle infield. Boston has a hole in their middle infield anyway. They have the most obvious answer to this problem and they're holding him down in Double-A.