BOSTON — The MLB trade deadline has officially passed, meaning teams can no longer look for ways to improve their clubs from the home stretch. The Red Sox, who are 56-49 and enter play Tuesday one game behind the Royals for the final American League wild card spot, completed one trade Tuesday and completed a total of four in the five days before the deadline.
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As a refresher, here’s everything they did:
* Acquired SP James Paxton from the Dodgers for minor league INF Moises Bolivar
Paxton, who spent 2022 (injured all year) and 2023 with the Red Sox, was made available after the Dodgers designated him for assignment following an outing in which he beat Boston. The Red Sox pounced and upgraded their fifth starter spot with a left-hander (all four of their other starters are righties). Cooper Criswell moved to the bullpen to make room for Paxton, who will make his first start since the trade Tuesday against Seattle. Paxton is a free agent after the year.
Bolivar is a 17-year-old who signed out of Venezuela in January and has spent the year in the Dominican Summer League. He was not ranked on any prospect lists.
Jansen is a lifelong Blue Jay who represents an outside-the-box addition for the Red Sox. The right-handed hitting veteran was targeted as an upgrade over the left-handed hitting Reese McGuire, who was designated for assignment. The Red Sox will use Jansen as Connor Wong’s backup and will also get him at-bats against left-handed starters at designated hitter because Masataka Yoshida has struggled against southpaws all year. Jansen is a free agent after the year.
Baseball America had Paulino, a 22-year-old infielder, ranked No. 18 in Boston’s system. MassLive ranked him No. 22 in the system entering 2024. He was at Double-A Portland. Coffey, 20, was a former second-round pick (2022) who got a $1.85 million bonus. BA ranked him Boston’s No. 21 prospect entering 2023. But he did not appear on BA’s Top 30 Red Sox list at any point this season. Batista, a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher in the Florida Complex League, is a lesser-known prospect who won the organization’s 2023 Latin Program Pitcher of the Year.
* Acquired SP/RP Quinn Priester from the Pirates for minor league INF/OF Nick Yorke
Priester is the one long-term addition the Red Sox made. He’s a former first round pick and top prospect who has struggled in limited major league time with Pittsburgh. The Red Sox wanted to balance their system by swapping some upper-minors middle infield depth for pitching with upside. In the 23-year-old righty, they found just that. Priester was optioned to Triple-A Worcester to join the rotation but could pitch out of either the rotation or bullpen down the stretch. Long-term, the Red Sox hope he’ll start.
* Acquired RP Lucas Sims from the Reds for minor league RHP Ovis Portes
Sims, 30, is a veteran of eight major league seasons and has been with the Reds since 2018. He profiles as a sixth inning or seventh inning arm ahead of Justin Slaten, Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen when the bullpen is back at full strength — and a higher-leverage arm in the days to come before Martin and Slaten return from the injured list. Sims is a free agent after the season.
Portes, a 19-year-old righty who Boston signed to an amateur international deal in 2022, is 2-1 with a 2.12 ERA in 11 outings (five starts) between the Florida Complex League Red Sox and Low-A Salem this year. SoxProspects had him ranked 29th in the system.
The 37-year-old Garcia is another veteran reliever who — you guessed it — is a free agent after the season. He has bounced around to five clubs in 12 seasons and was having a pretty good year for the Angels as their setup man ahead of Carlos Estevez, who was traded to the Phillies. He’s likely to serve a role similar to Sims as a sixth or seventh-inning guy in Boston.
The Red Sox gave up four minor leaguers to get the deal done. Lugo (No. 13, via SoxProspects), Zeferjahn (No. 37) and Kavadas (unranked) are all at Triple-A Worcester. Vargas (No. 54) was at Salem.
