The Boston Red Sox wasted absolutely no time.
The MLB season ended officially on Wednesday night when the Milwaukee Brewers finished off the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
On Thursday, the Red Sox made two trades to begin their offseason.
The first sent Nate Eaton to the A’s for an 18-year-old pitching prospect, Jareth Rayo.
The second sent Tsung-Che Cheng to the Tigers for cash.
It may have surprised Boston fans to see the Red Sox this active right away, but the reality is this — there might be more trades coming, for a very specific reason.
Why Red Sox Made 2 Trades
Both Red Sox trades were done with the exact same purpose — to clear space on the 40-man roster.
At the end of the season, any players who were on the 60-day injured list have to be returned to the 40-man roster. This year, that has to happen on Monday.
The Red Sox entered Thursday four spots short relative to the players they’ll have coming off the 60-day IL. With the trades, they’re now two spots short.
They’ve got Kutter Crawford, Zack Kelly, Johan Oviedo, Eduardo Rivera, Justin Slaten, Triston Casas and Eli White returning from the 60-day IL.
The Red Sox could also choose to designate those guys for assignment and remove them from the 40-man roster, but evidently they didn’t want to do that with four of those players. That’s why they traded Eaton and Cheng.
More Moves Coming
As stated above, Boston still has two spots to clear. It’s just less certain if it’ll be more trades or if the Red Sox will part with a few of the guys waiting to come off the 60-day IL.
Someone like Casas, who has had a lot of injury troubles and may not have a spot in the Boston lineup, would be a candidate to be DFA’d.
The Red Sox also wouldn’t have to do such obvious “get rid of this player” type moves as they did with Eaton or Cheng. They could consider larger or bolder trades, if they so desire.
There will likely be plenty of consideration for moves eventually this offseason for Boston, which has an overcrowded hitting lineup in certain spots and may want to consolidate anyway.
But as far as this quick timeline to getting everything in order by Monday, it may indeed make sense for the Red Sox to make the small moves first, get the roster legal, and then figure out the bigger decisions after that.
Why Red Sox Made 2 Trades On 1st Day After World Series