The Los Angeles Dodgers have traded veteran left-hander James Paxton to the Boston Red Sox, the club he pitches for in 2023, the teams confirmed Friday.
The Red Sox have sent Moises Bolivar, currently an infielder in the Dominican Summer League, to the Dodgers. FanSided first reported the talks between the two sides.
When the Dodgers designated Paxton for assignment on Monday, the question was when — not if — they would find a trade partner. The club is faced with the paradoxical situation of needing starting pitching help, and yet having to trade one of the two starters they have who hadn’t missed a single start. But Paxton was unlikely to be a contributor in October for the Dodgers even before he signed his deal, and cutting him outright so close to the deadline gave them some roster flexibility while they found a trade partner.
Paxton can still throw innings; he has stayed healthy so far this season and has made 18 starts. The stats in those innings aren’t too bad, with a 4.43 ERA and 4.96 FIP despite a drop in velocity from his 2023 campaign (95.2 mph to 93.2 mph). For a Red Sox club that entered Friday with the eighth-lowest rotation ERA in baseball, he offers familiar reinforcement, and perhaps he’ll rediscover what made him so effective in the first half of 2023 (2.73 ERA in 10 starts).
Paxton spent the entire 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and debuted in Boston the following year, posting a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts, providing reliable innings every fifth day. That’s exactly what the Red Sox need right now.
As the trade deadline approaches, addressing the rotation is a main concern for Boston. Tanner Houck and Cooter Crawford have led the Red Sox rotation for much of the season, but each pitcher has already surpassed his career high in innings pitched. Meanwhile, Brian Bello and Nick Pivetta have posted uneven seasons to pitch and the Red Sox have rotated Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski in the fifth starter spot.
The addition of a veteran in Paxton would help stabilize the rotation.
The move gave the Dodgers a chance to get something more out of a pitcher who wasn’t in their picture in October. The club was confident it would be able to create a market for Paxton, especially since the 35-year-old only had to pay a prorated portion of his $4 million base salary. Paxton had already received his $3 million signing bonus and all of his performance bonuses (equating to $6 million), earning the final $1 million in his final start as a Dodger — a win over the Red Sox, funnily enough.
Bolivar, 16, signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent in January. In 31 games, he was hitting .270 with a .787 OPS. He split time between first base and third base.
(File Photo 2023: Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
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