Red Sox GM
Ben Cherington has done an admirable job so far this off-season. He has dramatically upgraded the offense, added a string of middling starters and hung onto his prime prospects. Not bad. Of course, the team still lacks a number one starter. The best case scenario for Boston is to trade for
Cole Hamels with a prospect pool
excluding Mookie Betts,
Blake Swihart and
Henry Owens. Easy for us to say! But, how about this for a plan? Aggressively out-bid
The Evil Ones for 19-year old Cuban shortstop
Yoan Moncada. That will likely cost upwards of $70-$80 million (counting the penalty for going over their allocated international signing pool). But, hey, that's
John Henry's cash. This move would allow Boston to put highly-touted shortstop
Deven Marrero into the Hamels deal—along with 3B
Garin Cecchini, 2B
Sean Coyle and RHP
Matt Barnes. Those four—and a commitment to pay all of Hamel's remaining $96 million salary—should be enough to get a deal done. Boston has
Xander Bogaerts to play short until
Pablo Sandoval leaves or moves to DH—giving Moncada plenty of time to develop in the minor leagues. We get a stud pitcher short-term, and a monster infield prospect long-term—setting ourselves up to dominate the AL East for years.
