Brewers trade former Yankees prospect to Red Sox in absolutely absurd infield gift

The New York Knicks defeat the Boston Celtics by 22 points on national television. The New England Patriots get creamed in the Super Bowl, potentially ending Drake Maye's era before it even begins. There's nothing that could end this New York sports Bostonian Schadenfreude ... other than something like, say, the Milwaukee Brewers handing the Red Sox a former Yankees fan favorite/third-place reigning Rookie of the Year finisher in exchange for a bag of magic beans. And oh, look! Here's that!

About an hour after a nonsensical report emerged that Caleb Durbin of the Brew Crew was becoming a well-identified Red Sox trade target, Boston finished the job, pushing the deal across the finish line.

What did they give up? They gave up nothing. Spare parts. Kyle Harrison, the headliner of the Rafael Devers trade and the Red Sox's SP9, at best. An expired top prospect. David Hamilton, every Red Sox fan's least favorite player. Shane Drohan, another pitching prospect who'll never sniff Boston's pecking order.

What did they get? The cheap, defense-first third baseman of their dreams. A doubles and stolen base machine. Dustin Pedroia reincarnated. It was so much for the Yankees to briefly have their own retort to Pedroia in their system before they dealt him for one year of Devin Williams. And now he's in Boston. Delightful.

A clear overpay for the Brewers, but a three-for-one swap is something you can almost justif -- oh, sorry, WHAT? The Sox also got backup infielder Andruw Monasterio, former Yankees first-rounder Anthony Seigler, and a draft pick! This is worse than the Chris Paul trade that David Stern vetoed.

Boston Red Sox acquire former Yankees pest Caleb Durbin in absurdly lopsided trade

Rob Manfred, where were you on this one, buddy?

The Yankees are going to have to be more careful moving forward. Even if they don't trade their valued prospects directly to the Red Sox, they seem to end up there anyway these days. Apparently, we're living in a league stupid enough where the third-place Rookie of the Year finisher from the previous season is not only available, but can be had in exchange for below-average bench pieces and fallen prospects from four years ago.

All offseason, we heard that the Red Sox preferred a defense-first infield addition over the likes of Eugenio Suárez and Isaac Paredes. Either of those sluggers would've been vastly preferable than this ideal fit for Boston's bygone ethos. Durbin is going to torture the Yankees. And he never should've been on the table in the first place.