Red Sox Blockbuster Trade Idea Lands $56 Million Superstar Amid Rotation Uncertainty

None of the Boston Red Sox's starting pitching injuries seem severe, but there are certainly more of them than the team would have liked.

With under two weeks to go before Opening Day, the Red Sox know that Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, and Lucas Giolito will all open the season on the injured list. Bello and Giolito could be back two weeks into the season if things go well, but it's hard to predict the speed of a pitcher's rehab these days.

Fortunately, the Red Sox fortified the rotation with the acquisitions of Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler this winter. Plus, Quinn Priester and Richard Fitts look like capable fill-ins, with the chance to establish themselves as part of the team's future rotation.

However, one Major League Baseball writer isn't buying that what the Red Sox have in house will be enough to sustain the team through the course of a 162-game season.

On Thursday, Zach Pressnell of Newsweek proposed a hypothetical trade that would see Boston land Miami Marlins ace and former Cy Young Award-winner Sandy Alcantara, who has two years remaining on his $56 million extension and is returning from a yearlong absence due to Tommy John surgery.

"Boston could explore a blockbuster trade to replace its injured pitchers," Pressnell wrote. "If the Red Sox are going to chase a trade, they might as well chase the biggest arm on the market."

"Alcántara has the chance to be one of the best pitchers in the league when healthy. He's on a team-friendly contract for the next three years. It would be a huge addition for Boston, not just right now, but for the next three seasons."

Pressnell mentions Triston Casas and Wilyer Abreu as potential headliners for the trade, but to be candid, Miami doesn't seem to be in a position to take on players who already have a year or two of big-league service time under their belt.

Miami has been stockpiling younger prospects in their most recent trades (i.e. Jesús Luzardo, Jazz Chisholm Jr.). If that's the case here, a package involving Franklin Arias, Mikey Romero, Luis Perales, or other farmhands who have yet to debut

But where the rubber really would meet the road is if Miami asks for Marcelo Mayer--which one has to assume they would if the Red Sox called them today. Some things may change between now and the day Alcantara becomes readily available, but as of now, the Marlins can ask for the moon.

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