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.

2. Nathan Eovaldi

On Yankees fans’ “Most Hated Pitchers” list, Nathan Eovaldi is a dark horse top-five candidate. A former Yankee who couldn’t be harnessed in the Bronx, the right-hander needed Tommy John surgery in 2016, missed all of 2017, joined the Rays in 2018, and was then traded to the Red Sox in the middle of that year.

Ever since joining Boston? He’s 22-17 with a 4.06 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 3.79 FIP and 424 strikeouts in 86 games (409.2 innings). He helped the Sox to a World Series in 2018 (which earned him his contract extension) and has historically held the Yankees in check to the tune of a 3.76 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 72 strikeouts across 16 games (76.2 innings), which doesn’t include his two dominant postseason performances against New York in 2018 and 2021.

Now, in the final year of his contract and earning $17 million, Eovaldi is the definition of a premier trade deadline asset. Teams across the league, especially contenders, are starved for pitching and will pay a prohibitive price to improve their contender status. Bloom is smarter than to pass on Eovaldi’s potential demand and let him walk for free in the offseason.

If Boston remains out of contention, don’t be surprised if you hear Eovaldi’s name swirling in trade rumors despite the fact he leads the league in home runs allowed (16) and has an unsightly 5.23 FIP. Someone will take a chance on him because his offerings are too electric to pass up, especially with productive starting pitching so hard to come by.