MLB trade rumor grade: Asdrubal Cabrera or T.J. Rivera to the Red Sox?

Welcome to a new and ongoing series wherein we grade various rumors floating around Major League Baseball to see how much they make sense for both teams involved. They might make perfect sense for all teams involved, they might make no sense at all for one side, or could be complete malarkey with no logic at all attached to the potential deal. But that’s the fun of speculation!

One recent rumor involves Boston’s desperate need for a man at third base and one of two options from the Mets that could help the Red Sox out just a bit.

What the Mets would gain by trading either Asdrubal Cabrera or T.J. Rivera

At 13.5 games back from the first-place Nationals in the NL East, the Mets are yet again in a full-on firesale mindset. Their rotation isn’t the powerhouse it was expected to be this season (New York’s hottest club is the Mets’ disabled list!) and they couldn’t overcome that setback enough to crawl into anywhere close to a playoff position halfway through the summer.

In other words, everyone get off the train, the Mets are in turnaround mode once again, and they’ve got some contracts they’d like you to take a look at if that’s something you might be interested in.

Their likelihood of saying goodbye to Rivera at this point is iffy at best seeing as he’s still a rookie, with a season line of .303/.348/.459, and has five controllable years left. Sending Rivera away without asking for something huge in return wouldn’t only be a firesale situation, it might be a “setting the franchise on fire” situation depending on how things turn out. Not that the Mets haven’t made those mistakes in the past, but let’s just pretend they’re smart(er) now.

Still, they need to recoup this season somehow and getting a few young arms out of it (the Sox have both Jay Groome and Mike Shawaryn playing A-ball) wouldn’t be the worst option.

What the Red Sox would gain by trading for either Cabrera or Rivera

Well, this should be obvious. The Red Sox need a third baseman badly, and are thirstier about it than Clint Eastwood being dragged through the desert in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. They’ve been very public about this need, targeting Todd Frazier of the White Sox for the most part but also being open to other options should that plan fall through. They’re sitting with the just-back-from-injury Brock Holt at third for the time being after cycling through Tzu-Wei Lin and Deven Marrero in his absence, and it’s been a catastrophe. They need help.

Both Cabrera and Rivera offer flexibility at the position after this season, as neither of them are bogged down with unmanageable contracts. Cabrera only has an $8.5 million option for next year remaining on his contract which would be a great rental situation for the Sox as they wait for Rafael Devers to stop impressing everyone in the minors and come tear up the big leagues. However, Cabrera has also only played one game at third in his career and isn’t the defenseman he used to be.

Rivera is younger, hitting the ball impressively, and is more of a utility player than Cabrera. But as mentioned, his rookie status is too attractive for the Mets to hand him over without something big in return. Cabrera can get the Sox to Rafael Devers-land without saddling them with a huge contract or a multi-year commitment, while also helping them stay in first place in the division with his much-needed offense.

Rumor Grade

This seems like an A- that has all the potential in the world to be bumped up to an A should further reports come out. The report originating from the Herald is a sign that this is legitimate talk, at least on Boston’s side of things.

The Mets know their season is over and the Sox could help them unload the aging Cabrera while sending back a few prospects to help New York look to the future. Boston’s internal preferences for a new third baseman might have a few names listed above both of the Mets’ offerings, but if conversations fall through elsewhere and talks progress here, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for this deal to happen.