Former Boston Red Sox fireballer Luis Perales wasn’t just traded earlier this week; he was swapped for another pitching prospect.
In a classic “challenge trade,” Perales was sent to the Washington Nationals on Monday for 25-year-old lefty Jake Bennett. Perales is the harder thrower, is younger, and probably has more upside, but the Red Sox liked Bennett’s massive frame and strike-throwing abilities.
Perales was ranked No. 5 in the Red Sox’s top 30 on MLB Pipeline before the trade, and even if he anticipated being dealt, as prospects on teams in playoff position always must, he couldn’t have been expecting to be dealt for another pitcher who had yet to make his major league debut.
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Perales gives thoughts on being traded
On Wednesday, Perales opened up about being traded in an interview with Marcos Grunfeld of El Emergente, a publication focused on Hispanic players in Major League Baseball and other baseball leagues in Spanish-speaking countries.
“I was quite surprised,” Perales said in Spanish, translated by Grunfeld. “The call came from the boss, Eddie (Romero), and we talked for a moment, and he told me I’d been traded for another lefty pitcher they needed, and he thanked me for everything, for helping the team and all that.
“But, it wasn’t like, ‘Wow,’ it was more like, I was expecting that moment, you know? I knew they had already traded many of my friends, and I said, ‘Well, at some point, it will be my turn.’ I had hoped to stay in Boston, because it’s the organization I signed with as a kid. But God has other plans for me that, I don’t know what else to tell you.”
More than a few Red Sox fans were surprised, likely more than Perales claims to have been, by the fact that Bennett, in particular, was the name the Red Sox targeted in a deal. The older, more consistent Bennett may have been something of a ceiling-floor play for Boston, which has been stockpiling starting pitching depth all winter.
Perales will almost definitely get his chance to debut in the majors with Washington next year after returning from Tommy John surgery in the second half of this past season. The Red Sox fans that have known his name since he was a teenager will wish him well, but also feel quite conflicted if he goes on to star in a new organization.
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