Latest Red Sox trade fleece affirmed their main goal is making Yankees look stupid

The Boston Red Sox had an Alex Bregman-sized hole in their infield, and for weeks have been rumored to be scouring far and wide for their next big splash. The New York Yankees were supposed to be shaking in their boots.

With either second or third base open, depending on your defensive preference for Marcelo Mayer, the Red Sox were linked to trade candidates like Ketel Marte, Brendan Donovan, Nico Hoerner, and Isaac Paredes. In free agency, they went bust on Bo Bichette and then kicked the tires on Eugenio Suárez, ultimately losing him on a reasonable deal to the Reds. The trade market had to provide the answer, and now we know who the mystery trade target is, and it's... Caleb Durbin?

We like Durbin around these parts, but he's not quite the impact acquisition Boston insiders had been hinting at. Given the need, we thought they'd be after something more substantial. It almost feels like poking the Yankees is a bigger priority than actually winning the division for the folks in Beantown.

The Red Sox's acquisition of Caleb Durbin makes it seem like proving the Yankees wrong is more important to them than winning

Red Sox chief Craig Breslow himself said that one of the club's top priorities this winter was to add a big bat. They, of course, had one in Rafael Devers, but flushed him away. Ironically, less than a year later, they also shipped out the last piece of the Devers return package, with Kyle Harrison going to Milwaukee to acquire Durbin.

One can argue that Boston has failed miserably in that quest for a masher. Willson Contreras is a nice all-around hitter, but he's no star, and with a career high of 24 homers, he's not a supreme power threat. He's much better than the five-foot-seven Durbin, who slugged .387 last season, though.

In fact, the 11 homers the former Yankees farmhand connected on last season might be an aberration. The 26-year-old is a pesky hitter who puts a lot of balls in play, but they aren't struck with much authority. Durbin's hard-hit rate and average exit velocity both fell in the fourth percentile last season. His 4% barrel rate was a 12th percentile performance.

Fenway is also the worst possible park for Durbin's power profile. He does pull a decent amount of balls in the air, but they're not of the towering fly ball variety, making his park-adjusted homer total just five in Fenway.

Adding Durbin comes on the heels of signing Yankees legend Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and is just another in a long line of moves the Red Sox have made to acquire marginal former Yankees.

Sometimes, the strategy has worked in their favor, as it did with Garrett Whitlock. They might have found a keeper in Carlos Narvaez as well, though Elmer Rodriguez's standing in the prospect world has shot up dramatically since leaving Boston's clutches.

Others haven't worked out as well. Rather than dip into their prospect capital to get a real prize, they're settling for a former 14th-round pick with a .721 OPS just so they can try to poke New York in the eye. The end result could be them getting too cute, missing entirely, and falling flat on their face.