Are the Boston Red Sox regretting a trade they made back in April?
Admittedly, it’s an odd time to be talking about regret in connection to the Red Sox, who have won three straight games at Yankee Stadium and sit atop the American League wild-card standings (entering Sunday).
Say what you want about the moves that Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has made (or didn’t make) recently. Ultimately, the Red Sox are in position to make the playoffs and are an altogether entertaining product in 2025.
Even so, any reminder of the Quinn Priester trade brings up complicated feelings for Red Sox supporters.
Breslow traded Priester to the Milwaukee Brewers on April 7, for minor-leaguer Yophery Rodriguez, the No. 33 pick in the 2025 MLB draft (Boston selected Marcus Phillips) and a player to be named later, which turned into John Holobetz.
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While the value of Rodriguez and Phillips remains unknown, Priester has found enormous success with the Brewers, something USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reminded everyone of on Sunday.
“The best trade of the year was the Brewers acquiring starter Quinn Priester (11-2) from the Boston Red Sox on April 7, and have now won 15 consecutive games in which Priester has pitched,” Nightengale wrote.
Priester, 24, has a 3.44 ERA and 1.26 WHIP this season in 128 1/3 innings pitched.
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Did Boston give up on Priester before they should have, or was he never going to break out in Boston, needing a change of scenery to bloom? These are difficult and somewhat pointless questions for the Red Sox to be losing sleep over.
With Walker Buehler recently getting dropped from the rotation, it’s hard not to wonder what Boston’s staff would like with some version of Priester … some version close to what he’s become in Milwaukee.
But with Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello excelling, and if Dustin May proves to be a reliable playoff performer, the Red Sox can still make a big run in October.
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