The Boston Red Sox have a surplus of players at a few positions, but third base is the topic of discussion right now. Are they gearing themselves up to trade prospect Garin Cecchini?
The 23-year-old has the most at-bats (39) on the team during spring training and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports believes this is a "good hint he's been showcased for trade purposes." He's slashing .282/.282/.333/.615 with two runs scored and seven RBIs in 14 games after batting .258/.361/.452/.813 with six runs scored, one home run and four RBIs in 11 games with the Red Sox in 2014.
Spring training is a good time to help build trade value for younger players because that's usually when they get the most playing time against MLB-caliber talent. The Red Sox already have Pablo Sandoval starting at third with Brock Holt, Hanley Ramirez and Cecchini as options behind him. Holt seems to be working himself into a super utility man type role and Ramirez is the starting left fielder, so these two players have value even with the presence of Sandoval.
Cecchini is the one who's out of luck.
"As a third baseman, Cecchini is now blocked for the foreseeable future at his natural position following the Red Sox' decision to sign Pablo Sandoval to a five-year contract last December," writes Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. "... A year ago, there was talk of having Cecchini play some outfield in an effort to find him playing time in the future. But the outfield is even more crowded than the infield, and that experiment has seemingly been abandoned."
"I don't know if he'll ever hit for the power you normally associate with that position,'' added a National League scout, via McAdam. "But he's hit everywhere he's been and he'd be at least adequate at third. But I just don't see how he fits in with the Red Sox.''
Even in the event of an injury to Sandoval, the team has more experienced options with Holt and Ramirez. Moving Ramirez there in such a situation would even help free up the logjam in the outfield and perhaps give Allen Craig, Daniel Nava, Rusney Castillo or Jackie Bradley Jr. more playing time.
So who would be interested in a trade for Cecchini? There's not much buzz on the market right now for the youngster, but we can take a good educated stab at what teams could use him in the future.
Based on FanGraphs' 2015 Positional Power Rankings for third base, the most likely clubs would be the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves. According to their analysis, the Giants rank 28th in WAR at the position and the Braves rank 30th. The Padres ranked 29th, but they already traded for one of the Red Sox' third basemen in Will Middlebrooks this offseason. The Chicago White Sox were 27th, but they have a young option in Matt Davidson for the future.
The projected starting third basemen for the aforementioned clubs in need are Casey McGehee (SFG) and Chris Johnson (ATL). McGehee, 32, was acquired from the Marlins earlier in the offseason. He won Comeback Player of the Year with Miami in 2014 after playing in Japan in 2013 because of his struggles in 2012. However, he's only signed through the 2015 season and the Giants don't have any viable young options behind him. Adam Duvall was perhaps considered an option, but he struggled in 28 games with the Giants last year and is off to a poor start in spring training.
As for the Braves, they have Chris Johnson, who is serviceable, but president of baseball operations John Hart tried to trade him earlier in the offseason because he's guaranteed $23.5 million over the next three seasons and did not have a good enough campaign last year to back that up. Atlanta also attempted to sign Cuban infielder Hector Olivera and he would have been a potential option at third base, but he agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves traded third baseman prospect Kyle Kubitza to the Los Angeles Angels earlier in the offseason, so their options in the pipeline are exhausted as well.
If the Red Sox receive any trade calls for Cecchini don't be surprised if they're from the Giants or Braves.
