3 Red Sox players Yankees fans will hopefully watch leave at trade deadline

That 2021 Boston Red Sox team … infuriating. Of course, the New York Yankees continue to struggle to get over the hump despite making constructive trades and signings while their division rival trades away a top-three player in the game and gets back to the ALCS two years later.

But this time? It’s not exactly looking promising for the Sox, who are fourth in the AL East with a 23-27 record with little sign of fully turning around the ship for the better. There’s a lot of baseball left, but Boston dug itself a very hard hole to climb out of.

As a result, former Tampa Bay Rays exec and now Sox general manager Chaim Bloom could look to sell at the trade deadline in two months considering the countless assets that exist on his roster.

Hell, we’ve already heard about the Xander Bogaerts buzz a few weeks back when the Sox were a few games away from being dead to rights, so how are we not to take lesser players on expiring contracts potentially being on the move more seriously?

And the ones that Yankees fans particularly hate? Man, seeing some of them go would be a dream. It’ll be one less thing to worry about with the Rays and Blue Jays on New York’s heels for the AL East lead.

So, which disliked Red Sox players could be on the move relatively soon? It seems these three might be the most realistic bets.

Yankees fans will be ecstatic to see these Red Sox players traded at the deadline

3. Kiké Hernandez

Kiké Hernandez is not disliked from a personal perspective. The man is as jovial and affable as they come. But he’s a member of the Red Sox, and there’s no enjoying any such player on their roster … especially when they get someone of Hernandez’s caliber on the relative cheap, only to watch him make postseason history during a year the Yankees fell embarrassingly short.

Hernandez got a two-year, $14 million contract ahead of the 2021 season after helping lead the Dodgers to a World Series, which was an absolute steal for a big market team. Hernandez plays multiple positions at a high level and has an incredibly clutch bat, whether you believe in clutch or not. Here are his career playoff stats:

• 69 games, .269 average, .900 OPS, 26 runs scored, 13 homers, 27 RBI, 19 walks, 40 strikeouts

And he was Boston’s driving force in the postseason last year, chipping in an unreal nine runs scored, five homers and nine RBI in 11 games vs the Yankees, Rays and Astros before the Sox were eliminated in the ALCS.

Regardless of how he’s performing, he’ll likely be a trade deadline asset, and Yankees fans can’t wait to see him go, especially with no reason for Boston to hang onto him.

1. Christian Vazquez

Get. Him Out. Now.

Christian Vazquez, who can arguably be described as the most average below-average player Yankees fans have been forced to watch in recent years, loves talked unprompted trash to the Bombers while peacocking his way all over the field when the two teams do battle.

You might remember his back-breaking solo homer off Zack Britton in Game 4 of the 2018 ALDS that ultimately decided the affair. Or his “They have no rings, and I have one” comment after a Sox beat writer asked him about Boston’s recent struggles (at the time in 2020) against the Yankees. The guy is just infuriating and has no reason to be since he’s a career .261 hitter with a weak .696 OPS and 84 OPS+.

What’s even funnier is that the Sox seemingly intentionally worked to have Vazquez avoid a contract incentive last offseason when he fell short a handful of at-bats of reaching an extra $1 million on his team option for the 2022 season. But he loves his Red Sox! That great franchise that penny pinches despite four World Series since 2004. Owning Liverpool doesn’t bring in enough money, either. Gotta save that $1 million.

Vazquez is earning $7 million this year and has actually heated up to put together one of his best seasons to date. He’s hitting .303 with a .766 OPS and 116 OPS+ through 37 games and has proven capable at first base.

With no clear intention of keeping him beyond 2022, the Red Sox under Bloom’s leadership might be inclined to sell on another appreciating asset in a contract year and capitalize on the near-32-year-old’s worth at the moment.

This one feels like the most likely to happen and Yankees fans will collectively rejoice when it does.

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