The Boston Red Sox didn’t land an ace over the winter. It wasn’t for lack of trying.
Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo acknowledged Monday to the Boston Herald that he had many conversations over the offseason with Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington regarding potential trades. Jordan Zimmermann, who is set to become a free agent after this season, was one starting pitcher discussed, according to the Nats GM.
“I don’t think we laughed away any of them,” Rizzo said of the Red Sox’s trade proposals, according to the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato. “We took them all serious. We were fortunate to be in a position where we didn’t have to move the player and if we would’ve got the right deal we would’ve. The right deal is in the eye of the beholder and we felt like we needed to get legitimate value for who Zimmerman was, and not the fact that he has one year left of control.
“But there were no foolish trade discussions or anything like that. Our feel was, it had to fit what we were trying to do. Boston’s feel was, it had to fit what they were trying to do, and sometimes they match up and sometimes they don’t.”
The Red Sox and Nationals seemed like logical trade partners on paper, as Boston needed starting pitching and Washington had a surplus of talented hurlers. The Nationals feature the deepest rotation in Major League Baseball, especially since adding Max Scherzer to a mix that already included Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez.
Things obviously didn’t work out between the Sox and Nats, but a deal certainly was worth exploring given where each team stood from a roster standpoint. Zimmermann, a two-time All-Star who entered this season with a 53-33 record and 3.00 ERA in 122 starts since the beginning of 2011, would have been a huge addition to a Boston rotation with question marks. And the Nationals did have interest in some of the Red Sox’s position players, according to Rizzo.
Perhaps the teams will revisit their previous talks later this season. Both clubs have World Series aspirations in 2015, though, so they’ll need to be creative.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
