3 Red Sox Trade Candidates Who Should Be Untouchable At Deadline

There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Boston Red Sox having a trade deadline fire sale. While that wouldn’t occur for about eight more weeks, it’s definitely time for the club to start thinking about which players they wouldn’t be willing to let go.

Some are obvious. Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet signed a combined $300 million worth of extensions last year, and if Boston is going to be good in years to come, those two will need to be part of the winning formula. But there are a few more players who teams may try to pry loose, and who the Red Sox would be wise to hold onto.

Whether it’s due to bad value propositions or simply needing to believe in the future potential, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has to make sure these three players are still wearing Red Sox uniforms after the trade deadline on Aug. 3. These aren’t going to be obvious picks like Ceddanne Rafaela and Payton Tolle, but rather, guys who might feasibly be involved in rumors over the next couple of months if they haven’t already.

Marcelo Mayer - SS

It’s been a disappointing season for Mayer at the plate, but sometimes it takes time for a young player’s bat to come around. Look at Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, another former first-round pick out of high school who struggled as a rookie, but is now quite arguably the best player at his position in the entire sport.

Whether he keeps the shortstop job for good or moves back to second base to accommodate top prospect Franklin Arias in a year or so, Mayer still very clearly has the raw talent on both sides of the ball to be a cornerstone piece in years to come.

Garrett Whitlock - RP

It’s very tempting to remove Whitlock from this list. With two years of affordable team control left on his contract after this one, the stalwart setup man could command a serious haul. But unless the Red Sox get something crazy like two Top 100 prospects for Whitlock, they’d be smarter to keep him in the bullpen.

Assuming the Red Sox trade closer Aroldis Chapman, Whitlock is probably first in line for the ninth-inning role next year. He’s part of the fabric of the clubhouse, too. He’s so good against hitters from both sides of the plate that the Sox just can’t afford to let him go if they want to have a lockdown bullpen moving forward.

Caleb Durbin - 3B

This one is going to be a bit controversial, because Durbin’s early-season struggles are a big reason the Red Sox have found themselves mired in the wrong kind of trade rumors. But they’d be selling on him at such a low point that the value proposition just isn’t what the Sox would need it to be.

Even if he never replicates his rookie season again, which seems unlikely given his age of just 26 years old, Durbin is a good piece to have on a major league roster, since he can conceivably play other infield positions besides third base. Put it this way: Since there’s no way they’re getting an arm like Kyle Harrison back for Durbin now, it makes sense to just hold pat and see what he’s got.

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