Boston Red Sox: A trade for Todd Frazier makes perfect sense
The Boston Red Sox are putrid at third base and the Chicago White Sox are in the midst of a rebuild. It makes perfect sense for the Red Sox to make a move to improve their play at third base while the White Sox further improve their farm system.
For the Boston Red Sox, it’s been a problem since the season opened.
The issue at third base has been festering on the field for months. It’s the open sore on the bottom of the Red Sox’ foot that has been continuously neglected. It’s that moldy, rotten cheese that the Red Sox continue to push to the back of the refrigerator even though it will only continue to smell and get worse.
Throughout the season, there’s been some temporary band-aids at third base. Tzu-Wei Lin has shown a bit of promise by batting .333/.435/.436 in 47 plate appearances before the All-Star break. However, given his size, he doesn’t seem as if he’ll be the one locking down the third base position.
Even with the temporary Lin-sanity, the Red Sox rank 29th in OPS by third basemen at .625.
If the Red Sox plan on vying for another World Series ring, the answer at third base will come from the outside.
There are a couple of mediocre options out on the market such as Martin Prado and David Freese. They have good track records, but they would not be any real improvement.
The true answer is Todd Frazier of the Chicago White Sox.
Frazier has a batting average of .213 with 16 home runs and 44 RBI. He is strictly a power guy and could be inserted right in the middle of the lineup. The Red Sox rank 26th in the majors in home runs with 92 of them. By adding Frazier, the Red Sox would boost that statistic.
Frazier also wouldn’t require a large return because of his inability to hit for contact. The Red Sox would only have to give up a minor leaguer or two for him. They wouldn’t have to give up top prospects Rafael Devers or Jason Groome. Remember, the Red Sox already gave a slew of their top prospects to the White Sox for Chris Sale during this past offseason.
This trade would also make perfect sense for the White Sox.
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Frazier will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and the White Sox are going to want to get something for him. Based on the returns that they got for Sale and most recently Jose Quintana, the White Sox are building for the future. By getting a return for Frazier, they’d at least be getting something, rather than getting absolutely nothing by losing him in free agency.
For the Red Sox, there’s been an increase in competition in the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays are hot and the All-Star break may have been the timeout the New York Yankees needed to regain their momentum.
Overall, the Red Sox were hot going into the All-Star break and have become a team to possibly invest in. I’m well aware that just a few weeks ago, I said the Red Sox shouldn’t be buyers. After that article was written, the Red Sox went on to win six straight games and are currently 3.5 games up on both the Yankees and Rays.
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It’s time for the Red Sox to go out and get Frazier. He’s affordable and can hit for power.
And with that move, the Red Sox will fix their open sore at third base.