In case anyone’s forgotten, Cole Ragans is absolutely spectacular.
The Kansas City Royals’ ace finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting last year before a shoulder injury limited him to just 13 starts and a 4.67 ERA this season. All you have to do is look at his 2.50 FIP and 14.3 strikeouts per nine innings in those starts to know his season-long numbers would have looked a lot different without the injury.
There was a lot of smoke about the Boston Red Sox potentially trading for Ragans over the last few days, stemming from a report from Alex Speier of The Boston Globe that suggested a link. But if the Red Sox truly want Ragans, they’d better be prepared to pay a hefty price.
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What Red Sox should be prepared to offer for Ragans
So, what should the Red Sox be willing to offer Kansas City for Ragans? Here’s the best offer Boston should be prepared to put on the table if it means luring a true co-ace to pair with Garrett Crochet for the next three seasons:
Red Sox get: LHP Cole Ragans
Royals get: OF Jarren Duran, LHP Connelly Early, OF Jhostynxon Garcia, RHP Juan Valera
No, Royals fans, you’re not getting Roman Anthony for Ragans. And as mean as it may sound, the Royals probably can’t afford Anthony’s $130 million contract extension, anyway, considering the fact that they already guaranteed Bobby Witt Jr. double that amount and have never handed out another nine-figure deal.
Duran has to be included in this deal, as he’s the epitome of everything the Royals are missing from their outfield. And if Boston wants a great lefty pitcher, they’ll absolutely have to give up one of the rookie lefties they brought up at the end of the year, so we’ll cut ties with Early and keep Payton Tolle’s higher ceiling.
Garcia is where things get interesting, as Kansas City might prefer one of Marcelo Mayer or Kristian Campbell swapped in. But Campbell already got paid more than the Royals might be comfortable guaranteeing, and Mayer’s injury concerns are real. Garcia could potentially step up right away as a platoon partner for Jac Caglianone in right field.
And the last piece, Valera, is the wild card of this deal. He’s 19 and has flashed upper-90s heat, and if he stays healthy, he could be in the big leagues as soon as 2027.
Kansas City might shoot down this package, and that would be a fair indication of how talented Ragans has shown himself to be. But they’d have to be tempted by the volume and all the problems it might solve, so Boston should be enthusiastically exploring the possibility.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
