Red Sox Make Stunning Trade in Middle of Night

Red Sox Make Stunning Trade in Middle of Night originally appeared on NESN.
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The Boston Red Sox have made a win-now trade.

The news broke after 11 p.m. ET on Saturday that they’re sending Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for Curtis Mead.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan had the breaking news report, and it came a bit out of nowhere.

The Red Sox had put themselves in position to make a deal with this season in mind thanks to their recent 15-game winning streak. They’d gone from a team likely to sell at the deadline to one that needed to buy and improve its roster.

The biggest shock here was dealing Early, who is a highly regarded prospect.

Boston’s reasoning may have at least somewhat had to do with the fact that Early is currently on the Injured List with an elbow injury.

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Early is 24, and Mead is 25, so on that front, it may not be as drastic as it first appears on paper.

Boston also has strong pitching depth, not just in the major leagues but in the minor leagues, as well.

Early has made 21 starts across his first two MLB seasons and has an 8-7 record with a 3.24 ERA.

Mead is originally from Australia and has broken out this season. He’s batting .254 with an .852 OPS that is helped by 17 doubles, a triple and 17 home runs. He’s also 6-for-8 stealing bases.

Most of the time this season, Mead has played third base, but he’s also seen action at both first base and second base, so he brings some versatility.

His best skill is hitting against left-handed pitching, but Mead can be used in all sorts of scenarios and will likely get frequent starts. Boston wouldn’t have traded for him to sit on the bench.

This is a clear signal of intent from Boston that the Red Sox front office believes in what this team has done recently, and they don’t want to miss a window of opportunity to make the playoffs and make noise in October.

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