Sean McAdam: Five thoughts on Red Sox trade for Caleb Durbin

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox pulled off one more deal, a day before pitchers and catchers have their first workout on Tuesday.

Here are five quick thoughts on the deal that landed them infielder Caleb Durbin:

1) This wasn’t a home run swing for Craig Breslow; it was more like a double to the gap.

Durbin is a quality addition, but he’s not the game-changer that, say, Ketel Marte might have been, Durbin enjoyed a decent rookie season with Milwaukee, but he’s more of a complementary player who brings versatility and lengthens the lineup.

Think of him as an Isaac Paredes-type, with better defense, but ultimately, less sock to his game. Several scouts noted his understanding of the strike zone.

An underrated aspect of his game: his speed (18 steals) and reputation as a smart, quick baserunner.

On the surface, the deal might feel underwhelming. But in context, the Red Sox didn’t give up a whole lot. True, Harrison has upside and might develop into a back-end major league starter. But David Hamilton is little more than a depth piece and Drohan, in part because of injuries and part because of performance, has yet to make his big league debut at 27.

2) The Red Sox explored some bigger names in their hunt to upgrade the infield.

With Marte off the market, the Red Sox, according to an industry source, took several tries at obtaining Zach Neto from the Los Angeles Angels.

Neto, 25, is a plus defender with more pop — a combined 49 homers the last two years — and would have been a significant addition. A natural shortstop, Neto could have moved to either second or third for the time being until Trevor Story’s deal was up.

But predictably, the Angels set a very high bar when it came to the return and the two teams were unable to match up.

3) Get ready for a spring training with a lot of evaluating.

Both Alex Cora and Craig Breslow sidestepped questions about where Durbin would play – second base or third. He played mostly third in his rookie season with the Brewers and played it well, but he has plenty of experience playing second in the minors, too.

Meanwhile, the Sox think Marcelo Mayer can play either second or third. But first, they want to see how things fit.

One advantage to getting the deal done even before the official start to spring training is getting a full camp to evaluate both. A deal later in February (or March) would have left less time to evaluate, while also potentially be disruptive.

Cora will get an opportunity to see who pairs better at second with shortstop Trevor Story. The first evaluations will happen on the back fields early in camp, but that will bleed over into the Grapefruit League season so the players can be properly evaluated under game conditions.

Look for a decision to be made no later than mid-March, so the new double play partner for Story will get a couple of weeks of game reps together.

4) If nothing else, the Red Sox got plenty of control on their end of the deal.

Many of the players they had discussed — including Paredes and Niko Hoerner — had either a year or two of control remaining. Durbin, however, is under their control through the 2031 season, so the Sox have him for six more seasons.

If Durbin is the kind of player the Red Sox think he is — or grows into that — that’s a huge plus for the team.

Mayer, too, has six more years of control, meaning that, in a best-case scenario, the Sox have half their infield under control through 2031.

For much of that time, those players will not even be arbitration-eligible, giving the Sox a chance to manage their payroll and CBT concerns for the foreseeable future.

5) There’s little (directly) left from the trade that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco last June.

The Sox obtained four players from the Giants and only one — 20-year-old pitcher Jose Bello – remains with the Boston organization.

Kyle Harrison, included in Monday’s deal, was the big piece coming to the Sox. First baseman James Tibbs went to the Dodgers at the deadline in exchange for starting pitcher Dustin May.

Meanwhile, Jordan Hicks was shipped to the White Sox last week in order to give the Red Sox salary relief from his remaining two years and $24 million in remaining salary.

It could be argued that the Sox took some of the money saved from the rest of the Devers deal and applied it to the signing of lefty Ranger Suárez. But in terms of the original pieces of the Devers deal, only Bello is still with the Sox.

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