Red Sox Make Stunning Trade in Middle of Night

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>The Boston Red Sox have made a win-now trade.

>The news broke after 11 p.m. ET on Saturday that they're sending Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for Curtis Mead.

>ESPN's Jeff Passan had the breaking news report, and it came a bit out of nowhere.

>The Red Sox had put themselves in position to make a deal with this season in mind thanks to their recent 15-game winning streak. They'd gone from a team likely to sell at the deadline to one that needed to buy and improve its roster.

>The biggest shock here was dealing Early, who is a highly regarded prospect.

>Boston's reasoning may have at least somewhat had to do with the fact that Early is currently on the Injured List with an elbow injury.

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>Early is 24, and Mead is 25, so on that front, it may not be as drastic as it first appears on paper.

>Boston also has strong pitching depth, not just in the major leagues but in the minor leagues, as well.

>Early has made 21 starts across his first two MLB seasons and has an 8-7 record with a 3.24 ERA.

>Mead is originally from Australia and has broken out this season. He's batting .254 with an .852 OPS that is helped by 17 doubles, a triple and 17 home runs. He's also 6-for-8 stealing bases.

>Most of the time this season, Mead has played third base, but he's also seen action at both first base and second base, so he brings some versatility.

>His best skill is hitting against left-handed pitching, but Mead can be used in all sorts of scenarios and will likely get frequent starts. Boston wouldn't have traded for him to sit on the bench.

>This is a clear signal of intent from Boston that the Red Sox front office believes in what this team has done recently, and they don't want to miss a window of opportunity to make the playoffs and make noise in October.

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