Agreed. You want a young, cheap, team-controlled TOR starting pitcher with ace potential to step in THIS YEAR? That’s a big ask—who wouldn’t want that?? Converting some prospects that are stuck behind layers of MLB depth—who have about a 10% chance of becoming as good of an MLB contributor as Cease—is a no brainer. Deal should have been done in November.
If the Sox were knocking on the door of a serious contending window—watched a division-rival team land another superstar player and SP depth this offseason, had a young player with major star potential at both left side infield positions and more infield strength in the system, were sitting on a starting pitching staff of 2 quality options and some big question marks a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting…who here wouldn’t be willing to keep Colson Montgomery and move a package led by a guy like Jacob Gonzalez to land a Spencer Strider/Zac Gallen for the next 2 years?