How do you improve the Red Sox

Teheran this year has improved greatly to where he's in the top 20-30 pitchers. He's relied more on his 4 seamer and slider and he was a Conforto single away from a Father's Day perfect game. Jake Peavy is probably the best comp for Teheran, once you consider age, quality, and arsenal.

Frank Wren signed Teheran to his Braves contract. Teheran and Vizciano for prospects would make sense ... 

But the bigger question is... Are the Braves willing to do a prospect deal?

GMs hate giving up cost-controlled players at their peak for prospects since the prospects often go bust. The fans even more so hate to lose their favorite players for prospects they never heard of.  

That's the key; either ERod, or Buchholz steps up, or they're going to be forced into a bad move.

I'm sure that Braves fans are rioting in the streets even still after trading Shelby Miller for Inciarte/Swanson/Blair.

Damn.
That's how you know a young player's good: the Rays grab him.

Funny, I mentioned Peavy independently of this. Look at Peavy's time with the Sox and tell me he was good. Then convince me that getting a younger version of the same style pitcher for two elite-level prospects, and several more valuable ones, is smart. Keep in mind, you'll have to prove that they need any starting pitching to begin with. Emphasis on **need**.

Btw, I saw endless Cubs fans 2 years ago on ESPN and other comment boards decrying Epstein and his "5-year plan" like he was the son of the devil. Only one in five or so preached patience. Now, I'm sure those same (first 4 of 5) fans are calling this Cubs team the best ever, and between complaints about not making it better, claiming that they've always said Epstein is the best GM in history.

Seriously, just...an awful, awful idea. Supported by the perfect comp to advocate **not** doing the trade, and then an appeal to build a team based on the whims of a fickle mob. Zoinks, Scoob.

I know Theo came up with the term bridge year(s) and was tarred and feathered for it and run out of Boston (kinda).  But it was always true and we finally seem to be near the end of it.  We needed a new core of players and now we have it.  Oh and throw 2013 in there too.

Thankfully no one panicked too badly and we held onto most of the future of the Red Sox.  Because going out and signing 30 year olds whenever there's a hole in the roster does not work out well most of the time or so it seems.  We shouldn't undo what has been done by panicking now either.  I get that this is Papi's last year, but he already gave us 3 championships.  We don't need a 4th if it means ripping up the future.  He's not the Tom Brady of this team.  This will be a winning team without him.

I know we all, in a perfect world, like to send off Ortiz a winner. In my opinion, trading for Teheran and Vizcaino would NOT make us that much better with the way this team is comprised currently. I know we all drank the Kool-Aid over the 1st 2 months of the season and thought this team was Series bound. How could anyone stop this juggernaut?

This team is not quite at that level yet. This team has lost much of its depth in their rotation (no Kelly and Owens at this time are not helpful). The bottom of our line-up looks terrible. Left-field is now a big problem. Ortiz somehow has hit like Ted, but may have difficulty replicating his 1st half in the second with two bad wheels. Bradley and Shaw have started to come back to the pack. Hanley is an enigma, and not sure what we can get from him over the last 3 months. Losing Carson Smith was bigger than many fans thought. Even Price and Kimbrel have not been quite themselves or as consistent as we'd hope for. To continue.....Koji may be close to finished. Tazawa is once again getting over-used. Layne (our logey) is absolutely terrible and should be moved. Barnes gives to many taters. Vazquez has been less than advertised.

Now for the good news: the Killer B's have really grown up and look to be cornerstones for years. Bogie looks like one of the best 15 players in baseball, and Betts is close. And.....Benitendi and Moncada have looked as good as advertised and could be ready in 12 to 15 months at most.

With that all said, WHY we would give up either of those 2 prospects (or Espinoza) to hopefully make Papi's last days more enjoyable, if the team is flawed?

In the infield, I love our double play combination. In the outfield, I love our center fielder and right fielder. In the rotation, Price and Porcello we probably can count-on as solid #1 and #3. Wright has been amazing.....but he needs to do it for a full season. Erod, I still have hope for. Our closer is solid.

In summary, I hope I'm VERY wrong, but they are really not a World Series team at the moment. They have a decent chance of playing ONE GAME as a Wild Card. You have all heard of "Anyone But Trump". Well I say: "Anyone But Beni, Moncada, and Espinoza!

Because the team will never be as good as it is with Big Papi. If Babe Ruth was retiring this year, there would be the same urgency to win while you still had him!

(I'm assuming that the prospects going back are the fair market value, and "blocked." Which means that Moncada, Espinoza, Kopech and Groome (assuming he's signed) would not be traded. Benintendi might be traded, because he is technically "blocked" at his most valuable CF position by Bradley and Betts.)

E-rod has always had consistency problems, because it turns out later he was tipping his pitches or had some other mechanical glitch. 

The advantage with Teheran is consistency down the stretch and in the playoffs and WS, when you want to keep your confidence interval (limiting the risk of poor performance) as tight as you can.

I was in the bleachers for the playoff game with the archetypal Mike Torrez moment so you're preaching to the choir. But I try not to let my SSS anecdotal experience cloud what's best for the team. Flyball homers are inherently flukey (I keep reminding myself).

ADD: and I'm assuming the prospects going back will be fair market value and "blocked". There are certain prospects who are untouchable, as I said above, and others like Benintendi who are technically "blocked" at CF and thus may have more value to another team than to us.

"I would do this deal because I assume it is a good deal because our front office is good and smart" -deepjohn, over and over again.

And don't forget that every single prospect is blocked just because we have MLB players at their current position, and that they couldn't possibly slide to another one.