Given his history of wheeling and dealing, it was a matter of when, not if, Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski would make his first big winter trade.
As it turns out, he didn't even wait for winter to officially begin.
On Friday, the Red Sox and San Diego Padres agreed to a swap that will send a package of prospects to Southern California and bring stud closer Craig Kimbrel to Beantown.
Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported Kimbrel was going to Boston, and Baseball America's JJ Cooper outlined the four prospects the Sox gave up: left-hander Logan Allen, infielder Carlos Asuaje, shortstop Javier Guerra and outfielder Manuel Margot.
Kimbrel, of course, was dealt from the Atlanta Braves to the Padres on the eve of the 2015 season, so his departure represents a dramatic about-face for the suddenly rebuilding Friars.
The real story, however, is the Red Sox, who signaled their intent to be heavy players after a dispiriting last-place finish.
And make no mistake: While Boston will undoubtedly dip its toes into the deep free-agent pool and cast nets for marquee names, this could well be the first of several landscape-altering blockbusters Dombrowski has stuffed up his sleeve.
Dombrowski engineered a series of headline-grabbing deals during his tenure with the Detroit Tigers. He brought in franchise-defining talents such as Miguel Cabrera, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, David Price and Yoenis Cespedes.
Now, in his first season at the helm in Boston, he has a ridiculously deep pile of chips from which to draw. And the Kimbrel trade hardly made a dent, as Cooper correctly noted:
Margot, who posted a .276/.324/.419 slash line with 39 stolen bases between High-A and Double-A last season, was the Sox's No. 3 prospect, according to MLB.com. But Boston still has infielders Yoan Moncada and Rafael Devers, rated as the No. 8 and No. 13 prospects, respectively, in the game by MLB.com.
Then there's outfielder Andrew Benintendi and left-handers Brian Johnson and Henry Owens, both of whom cracked the Red Sox rotation last year.
Speaking of which, even seemingly untouchable building blocks such as shortstop Xander Bogaerts, center fielder Mookie Betts and catcher Blake Swihart could theoretically be dangled for the right return. No one is untouchable. Just ask Dombrowski.
"I don't think you have untradeable players," Dombrowski said in August on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan show, per Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. "There's players that are more difficult to trade depending how your club sets up, but I think you're very open-minded to anything because you need to have an open mind in order to make deals happen."
Kimbrel addresses a serious issue for the Red Sox, whose bullpen posted the third-worst ERA in the Junior Circuit and failed to convert one-third of its save opportunities.
Kimbrel's numbers dipped a bit in San Diego, as his ERA rose from 1.61 in 2014 to 2.58, and he failed to make the All-Star team after four consecutive selections.
But the hard-throwing right-hander remains one of the game's elite relievers, and he will immediately supplant incumbent closer Koji Uehara, who is coming off an injury-shortened season and nearing his 41st birthday. Kimbrel also is more than a one-year rental, as he is under team control for three more seasons, including a $13 million team option for 2018 with a $1 million buyout.
The Red Sox still have work to do, of course. They need at least one top-tier starting pitcher, and while there are plenty of options on the open market, there are trade targets, too. Like, say, San Diego Padres right-hander Tyson Ross, whom the Pads and Sox have "discussed heavily," according to Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan.
Or how about the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg, the white whale of the offseason. The Nats may not move Strasburg—who's entering his contract year—until the trade deadline, if they move him at all. But if he is available, the Red Sox are one of the few clubs with the assets to make it happen.
Recently, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Dombrowski is a fan of free-agent left fielder Alex Gordon. Boston, Sherman speculated, could make room for Gordon in its crowded outfield by trading intriguing 25-year-old Jackie Bradley Jr.
And on it goes. Expect the Red Sox to surface at least peripherally in nearly every juicy rumor, as Dombrowski looks to leave his mark, spend some of his trade capital and get the franchise back on track after a season of dashed expectations.
Gird yourselves, Sox fans, and belly up to the hot stove. It's going to be a long, warm winter.
All statistics and contract information current as of Nov. 13 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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