There have been plenty of notable blunders under Chaim Bloom's regime with the Boston Red Sox.
However, one of Bloom's worst trades in his three-season tenure has flown under the radar.
Prior to the 2021 season, Bloom packaged left-hander Jeffrey Springs, right-hander Chris Mazza and cash to the Tampa Bay Rays for catching prospect Ronaldo Hernández and infield prospect Nick Sogard.
At the time, it appeared that Boston "stole" Hernández, a once-highly regarded prospect for two pitchers who had yet to prove anything.
Mazza did not catch on in Tampa, but Springs has flourished into an elite arm, and his freshly-minted contract depicts as much.
Springs signed a four-year, $31 million contract extension with the Rays that could pay him up to $65.75 million over the next five seasons according to the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin.
The 30-year-old posted a 7.08 ERA with a 28-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .333 batting average against in 20 1/3 innings across 16 games as a member of the Red Sox before being traded.
Since then? He's gone on to record a 14-6 record, 2.70 ERA, 207-to-45 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .221 batting average against in 180 innings.
The southpaw's devastating combination of a high strikeout rate, low walk rate and low batting average against resulted in a career year in 2022, highlighted by a 2.46 ERA.
As for Boston's half of the trade? Hernández has been called up to the big-league club twice but has yet to appear in a game. Sogard got his first taste of Triple-A last season. Both prospects already are 25 years old.
There was no way to know that Springs was going to evolve into a star after a horrid 2020 season but it's still tough to get fleeced in an inter-division trade.
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