Red Sox Rivals Make Trade After AL East Team Sends Fourth Catcher To IL

Two of the Boston Red Sox’s American League East competitors agreed to a rare division trade.

On Sunday morning, the Baltimore Orioles acquired catcher Alex Jackson from the New York Yankees. New York received international signing bonus pool money and either a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Another injury prompted Baltimore to work with the enemy. The Orioles selected Jackson’s Triple-A contract, making room for him by placing former Yankees star Gary Sánchez on the injured list with a right knee sprain.

Baltimore can’t catch a break behind the plate. Sánchez joins Adley Rutschman, Chadwick Tromp and Maverick Handley as the fourth catcher to go on the IL in the last 15 days.

The Orioles will hope the trend of Yankees catchers flourishing elsewhere continues. Jose Trevino has a career-high .773 OPS for the Cincinnati Reds, and Agustín Ramírez looks like a long-term starter for the Miami Marlins.

Of course, dealing a catcher to an AL East adversary has already backfired for the Bronx Bombers.

Last December, the Yankees traded Carlos Narváez to the Red Sox for pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz. Narváez has delivered All-Star-caliber results in Boston, batting .274/.351/.436 with commendable defense.

Yet the Yankees probably aren’t too worried about Jackson following in Narvaez’s footsteps. The 29-year-old is a career .132/.224/.232 hitter who collected 17 hits in 58 games for the Tampa Bay Rays last season.

Jackson, the No. 6 pick in 2014, was batting .226/.308/.463 in Triple-A.

The Orioles will continue to play catcher roulette as the position experiences more misfortune than the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team. They acquired Jacob Stallings from the Colorado Rockies after losing Tromp to a lower back strain, so the 2021 Gold Glover will likely receive most of the playing time until someone returns.