Yankees trade for Frazier, Robertson. What does that mean for the Red Sox?

I have mixed emotions about the Yankees acquiring Todd Frazier and David Robertson. Yes, the Yankees basically swept in and took Frazier from the Red Sox (The Red Sox were linked to Frazier all the way until the Yankees acquired him). That part hurts because the Yankees came in and stole a piece that could make the Red Sox better. But I’m not heartbroken that the Red Sox lost out on him. Frankly, I’m not sure how much Frazier would improve the Red Sox or the Yankees. He’s batting only .207. The Yankees first base situation (Frazier will probably move to first with Chase Headley at third) is batting a combined .208. His on-base percentage isn’t much better (.328 vs Yankees’ combined .295) and neither is his slugging (.432 vs .391).

For the Red Sox, sure Frazier will hit another 10-15 home runs throughout the rest of the season and they need that right now but I don’t think their third base situation is so bad that they will lose games because of it. How many games have the Red Sox lost because Deven Marrero, Tzu-Wei Lin or any other player manning the hot corner was there? Maybe a couple when Pablo Sandoval was on the team. How many have they lost because of their bullpen? 10.

Shouldn’t a team’s goal be to win games? So, shouldn’t the Red Sox be in on acquiring a reliever?

That’s why I think missing out on Robertson is a bigger loss. I think Dave Dombrowski was never seriously, even though reports surfaced the Sox were going to acquire Frazier and Robertson. With Joe Kelly out and anybody not named Craig Kimbrel have all been let downs, there is no pitcher capable of pitching the eight inning every day. To let the Yankees, your toughest competition, to get one of the most consistent relief pitchers in baseball while your team has deficiencies at the position is unacceptable. I’ll laugh when the Red Sox lose a playoff spot because the bullpen implodes down the stretch, meanwhile the Yankees are basically playing seven inning games.

Robertson makes sense for the Red Sox, so why was Dombrowski not in on him?

Would Dombrowski have taken on the money owed to Robertson this year and the $13 million owed next year? Probably not. Ownership doesn’t want to go over the luxury tax and acquiring Robertson and Frazier would have put them over the tax. And I don’t think acquiring just Robertson was available. The White Sox want to get rid of Frazier the most and they probably told teams to get Robertson, they must take on Frazier too.

So, say the luxury tax had Dombrowski out on Robertson. Does the luxury tax mean they can’t acquire any relief pitcher? Tony Watson and Pat Neshek will be available, Dombrowski could acquire them. But Dombrowski doesn’t seem to be interested in any relief pitching. He’s watched four pitchers go in the last couple days without have any interest in any of them.

It will be interesting to see what happens at the July 31 deadline. There’s still some time so I can’t put blame on Dombrowski yet, but as a Red Sox fan, it’s hard to see four top relief pitchers get traded without Dombrowski having any interest when the bullpen is the team’s biggest liability. And this trade by the Yankees does one thing if any for the Red Sox, it puts pressure on them to get better.