Transaction Details: Boston Red Sox Acquired RHP Quinn Priester from Pittsburgh Pirates For 2B/OF Nick York
The Red Sox and Pirates did a very unusual deal, trading young players one for one. This is more of a “challenge trade,” but I don’t think the term is entirely applicable when it comes to pitchers and fielders. You can look at this as a question of comparative advantage. The Pirates are currently well-stocked in starting pitching but need a batting lineup, the Red Sox are now and will be well-stocked in the near future but need young pitchers, and Boston has shown it can help develop young pitchers.
Either way, this is certainly a potentially win-win deal, but it’s a tempting one that has a greater chance of ending up bad for one side than any of the previous trades leading up to the deadline.
Going deeper
MLB trade assessment: Who benefits from Red Sox-Pirates swap of former first-round pick?
Nick York was Boston’s first-round draft pick in 2020 and not only did he fall outside the top 100 that year; Major League Baseball Pipeline’s pre-draft list. He’s since made a strong case for being selected, performing well with nearly every team in the minor leagues and, although he’s had some ups and downs along the way, he’s batting .310/.408/.490 in 38 Triple-A games this year.
He’s limited to second base, where he’s a 45-point defensive player at best. With his arm not coming back since shoulder surgery in 2019 and his subpar power and speed, he absolutely needs to continue to bat for average with a high contact rate to be an everyday player. I think that’s exactly what he is — a solid average regular, nothing more, nothing less.
York has enough hitting power to keep his batting average high, but he hits the ball into the infield too often to be good enough to get the ball into the stands more than 12-15 times a year. York could improve his defense and be near average at second base, but he’d be a minus or two defensively.
I see a narrow range of outcomes here, but certainty is valuable, especially for the Pirates. Their second baseman is Nick Gonzalezhas an on-base percentage of .293 so far this year.
Quinn Priester was a first-round draft pick by Pittsburgh in 2019 out of high school. (Rob Tringali/MLB Photo via Getty Images)
Quinn Priester is a more interesting case with a much wider range of possible outcomes. Priester was also a first-round draft pick in 2019 and had little trouble progressing through the Pirates’ system to the big leagues, where he allowed too much hard contact.
A lot of that is down to his fastballs, both of which are hittable — one four-seam and one two-seam — and while he does get hit with grounders, the hard-hit ones tend to fly into the outfield for hits more often than the soft-hit ones.
The Pirates also demoted his curveball to the fifth pitch in favor of a less effective slider. He has good form and can throw it repeatedly, which results in strikes. However, with a two-seam fastball, he shouldn’t throw a pitch with too much sinking, which results in more strikes in the middle to mid-innings.
The Red Sox have had great success over the past few years by expanding and tweaking their pitching repertoire. Tanner Hack The power of his splitter has transformed him from a failed starter into at least a No. 2 contender, and Priester has similar qualities: He has nearly all the ingredients to be an above-average starter and the form factor to fit that role.
Boston likely acquired him with that adjustment in mind, but if they can’t figure it out or he can’t execute, they may end up acquiring a sixth starter. With so few starting pitchers in their system, it would make a lot of sense for the Red Sox to trade a surplus hitter in York, who has no major league home, for a promising project like Priester.
Going deeper
The Red Sox could option Vaughn Grissom after he rehabs and are still looking for a right-handed infielder.
I understand the desire to evaluate who won a trade, and in many cases I can confidently say one team did particularly well, or the veteran player was over- or under-priced than expected. I don’t have that opinion on this trade. These two guys are good prospects. They’re both good prospects, except for Plister, who I wouldn’t put on a prospect list just because they’re young and haven’t made a name for themselves yet. They’ve both appeared at least once in my top 100 rankings. I hope they both make it to the majors and it becomes a win-win deal, but I think a lot of how good this trade is for both of them will depend on whether Boston can get more out of Plister than Pittsburgh can.
(York photo: Rusty Jones/Four Seam Images)
