Boston Red Sox should continue clearing logjam in August

The Boston Red Sox have gotten started clearing their offensive logjam in the last few weeks, moving Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli to the Angels and Rangers, respectively. The moves cleared room for Rusney Castillo and Travis Shaw to see regular MLB playing time, and both moves have paid off.

But if Boston really wants to flourish in 2016, they need to free up some more flexibility. And that means using the August trade deadline to continue freeing up playing time (and dollars) for potential new blood both from within and outside the organization.

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That’ll be done through waiver trades, which the Red Sox are no strangers to. They famously dealt Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to the Dodgers in August of 2012 to clear salary off the books, and could stand to find a similar trade this summer. Offseason signings Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval haven’t put Boston in the contending spot it figured to be in, and one or both could be attractive trade targets for contenders in need of some help in the lineup.

With David Ortiz‘s vesting option for 2016 now officially locked in, that puts Boston in a trickier situation for handling it’s cluster of bats next year. With Ortiz proving he can still be a contributor on offense, he’ll likely be in the lineup more days than not, leaving designated hitter as a non-option for John Farrell (or whoever is managing the Red Sox) to hit the likes of Ramirez, Sandoval and others.

Shaw, Castillo, Brock Holt, Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts are all already in the fold, and Deven Marrero, Garin Cecchini, Sean Coyle, Carlos Asuaje, Marco Hernandez and Henry Ramos could all be making the jump to the big leagues by the end of 2016. Boston has a young core of talented pieces (and Pedroia) that will be ready to contribute soon, and could jump at the chance to add another chip or two to that mix by moving Sandoval, Ramirez or both before the end of August.

Ramirez will likely be the more attractive trade chip, and could bring in some young pitching that Boston desperately needs. That being said, he’s also been the more productive of the two players, and would be much more desirable to keep around long-term (he’s signed through 2018). If Sandoval were to move, he’d likely bring in a lesser prospect haul, but would also potentially give the Red Sox some money to work with this winter as they look to fix their rotation. Moving both players just gives Boston even more flexibility with managing their bulk of young talent.

With so little top talent on the market this August and so many teams still in the hunt for the postseason, even a so-so player like Sandoval (by 2015 standards at least) could be of value to many teams. San Diego was reportedly interested in acquiring him prior to the July 31 deadline, and could still be interested considering its “win now” stance. But even if the Padres don’t get involved, there will be multiple teams that could become interested in either or both of the two, and the Red Sox would be wise to jump at the opportunity to clear some space and clear some salary.

Next: Red Sox Trade Mike Napoli to Rangers

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