There's an old—and erroneous—cliche about the Chinese symbol for "crisis" being the same as the one for "opportunity."
In the case of the Boston Red Sox, truer words were never spoken.
Coming off a disappointing 2015 campaign that saw them go from popular preseason pick to a distant, floundering also-ran, Boston jettisoned general manager Ben Cherington and hired Dave Dombrowski as its new president of baseball operations.
Dombrowski's mandate is simple: Take a club that finished 78-84, dead last in the American League East, and turn it into a winner, pronto.
The good news? In addition to MLB's fourth-highest payroll, per Spotrac.com, Dombrowski has a ridiculously deep pile of trade chips from which to draw. If the Sox elect to wheel and deal this winter, they'll have buying power to spare.
It starts with one of the game's best farm systems. Boston boasts three of baseball's top 25 prospects, according to MLB.com: second baseman Yoan Moncada (No. 10), third baseman Rafael Devers (No. 13) and outfielder Manuel Margot (No. 25).
Overall, Baseball America ranks the Red Sox's minor league stash as the second-richest in either league, behind only the Chicago Cubs'.
Young left-handers Brian Johnson and Henry Owens cracked Boston's starting rotation last year, but both could be moved. And veteran starter Clay Buchholz could also be dangled, per Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
After picking up Buchholz's $13 million option for 2016, Boston may try to flip the talented but oft-injured 30-year-old, as Cafardo noted:
Buchholz's name is already rolling off the lips of some mid- to small-market teams who believe they could trade for him if the Red Sox have bigger fish to fry in pursuit of a true ace who can stay healthy.
The $13 million and the fact that Buchholz can provide an ace-like stretch when healthy are certainly part of the thought process.
If the Red Sox trade Buchholz, or another starter, they could fill that slot with one of several aces on the free-agent market. Cafardo name-dropped Johnny Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann specifically.
But Boston might also swing a deal for an arm. If the Washington Nationals shop him, Stephen Strasburg will be an instantly scalding commodity, and Boston would be one of a few clubs with the assets to acquire him.
Bleacher Report's Rick Weiner proposed a hypothetical swap between the Red Sox and San Diego Padres that would send a bushel of prospects to Southern California in exchange for right-hander Tyson Ross and closer Craig Kimbrel.
Speaking of closers, Boston should be shopping for one, with Koji Uehara coming off an injury-shortened season and approaching his 41st birthday.
In addition to Kimbrel, Cincinnati Reds fireballer Aroldis Chapman might be available for the right (hefty) price. Kimbrel is arguably the better option, considering that he's signed through 2017 with a team option for 2018, while Chapman will be a free agent next winter.
Either arm, though, would bolster a Red Sox bullpen that posted the third-worst ERA in the Junior Circuit and failed to convert nearly one-third of its save opportunities.
Offensively, the Red Sox have some nice pieces to build around, including shortstop Xander Bogaerts, center fielder Mookie Betts and catcher Blake Swihart, none of whom is likely going anywhere, even in a landscape-shifting blockbuster.
Outfielder Hanley Ramirez and third baseman Pablo Sandoval, meanwhile, are almost surely unmovable considering the contracts they inked and the production (or lack thereof) they provided.
Others, though, such as slick-fielding outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., have value.
Recently, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Dombrowski is a fan of Kansas City Royals left-fielder Alex Gordon, who is expected to opt out of his deal and hit the open market. The Red Sox, Sherman speculated, could clear room for Gordon in their crowded outfield by trading Bradley.
The 25-year-old Bradley has been all-glove and no-hit since making his big league debut in 2013, but last season he posted a career-high .832 OPS with 10 home runs, potentially inflating his value.
We mentioned the trio of Bogaerts, Betts and Swihart, and suggested they won't be exiting Beantown anytime soon. Probably that's true. But no player is entirely safe, an unnamed rival scout told the Boston Globe's Alex Speier.
"Every Red Sox game [during fall instructional league], everybody and their brother was down there because they think Dombrowski is going to make some moves," the scout said, per Speier. "I don't think anyone is untouchable with Dombrowski."
Or, just take it from the man himself.
"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."
Dombrowski engineered several high-profile trades during his tenure with the Detroit Tigers, including deals that brought in the likes of Miguel Cabrera, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, David Price and Yoenis Cespedes.
Say what you want about his style and track record. No one disputes Dombrowski's willingness and ability to pick up the phone and make headlines.
In the coming weeks, he'll have a chance to do exactly that, beginning with the general managers' meetings that kick off Nov. 9 in Boca Raton, Florida.
It remains to be seen whether Dombrowski and the Red Sox's brass can avoid the crisis of another losing season. But, with a barrel of assets and some glaring holes to fill, they'll have every opportunity.
All statistics current as of Nov. 4 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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