Regardless of how you view this season thus far, it’s still a big improvement from last year. Some of those first-half successes can be attributed to changes made in the offseason, such as signing David Price and Chris Young and trading for Craig Kimbrel (sorry, Carson Smith). But those changes, particularly the trades, also required parting ways with some notable players. Yes, the Red Sox acquired talent, but gone are promising prospects such as Manuel Margot and Javier Guerra, as well as complementary pieces like starting pitcher Wade Miley.

We’ve seen how these moves have worked for the Red Sox, but what about the teams on the other side of the deals? What kind of contributions have the likes Margot, Guerra and Miley made to their new clubs, and what does it mean for those players going forward?

Let’s start with the Kimbrel deal. The Sox sent Margot, Guerra, Carlos Asuaje and Logan Allen to San Diego for the four-time All-Star closer. Kimbrel, as I wrote last week, has become the player the Red Sox were hoping to get. The Padres may be a mess, but they aren’t missing Kimbrel, either. Fernando Rodney owns a 0.31 ERA and 2.32 FIP, and San Diego’s newcomers have shown good potential in the minor leagues.

Manuel Margot

2015: .270 TAv, .147 ISO and 1.1 WARP in 64 games with Double-A Portland; .273 TAv, .138 ISO and 1.7 WARP with High-A Salem

Last season was good, but not great for Margot. This year he’s looked more like the player that made him one of the top prospects in the Red Sox’s organization. He’s spent the entire season with Triple-A El Paso, and has been the leadoff hitter and starting center fielder most of the way. He’s also putting up some of the best numbers of his young MiLB career. Margot is slashing .299/.352/.419 with a .274 TAv., while his speed (21 stolen bases) and defense (14.9 FRAA) continue to be strengths. BP’s Mark Anderson put his MLB ETA at 2017 in his scouting report three years ago. With the Padres out of contention, the 21-year-old Margot may get his chance as early as this September.

Carlos Asuaje

2015: .259 TAv, .123 ISO and -0.6 WARP in 131 games with Double-A Portland

Asuaje didn’t look like a major piece in the Kimbrel deal at the time. He projected as nothing more than a major-league utility player, and his numbers in Portland last year proved just that. Asuaje, however, has found new life in a new system, posting a .296 TAv and 1.3 WARP in El Paso thus far. He also has 25 extra-base hits, including a Pacific Coast League-high seven triples, matching his total from last season. Asuaje’s 2016 numbers are a throwback to his 2014 campaign split between Low-A Greenville and High-A Salem, when he combined for a 5.2 WARP that year. Now he’s starting to see his major-league potential manifest itself in his first crack at Triple-A. Perhaps he’s not far from his big-league debut either.

Javier Guerra

2015: .280 TAv, .171 ISO and 4.0 WARP in 116 games with Low-A Greenville

Guerra put all scouting reports to shame with his offensive production in Greenville last season. As BP’s Wilson Karaman wrote, Guerra is a premier defensive shortstop with a little pop in his bat, but at 20 years old his approach at the plate is still raw. That’s the player he’s been this season. He owns an underwhelming .245 TAv in High-A Lake Elsinore, but does have a 9.9 FRAA. Guerra hasn’t shown quite as much power, however, as he has just eight homers in 282 plate appearances and a .139 ISO, but it’s still a potential strength of his.

Logan Allen

2015: 0.90 ERA, 1.05 FIP and 10.8 K/9 in seven starts in rookie ball; made one start in Class-A Lowell

The Red Sox drafted Allen in the eighth round last June, so there’s little to compare what he’s done thus far to. What we do know is that the 18-year-old is off to a decent start, posting a 3.07 ERA, 2.96 FIP and 8.4 K/9 in 12 appearances (eight starts) for Low-A Fort Wayne. BP’s Grant Jones sees a potential major-league future for Allen, but that’s still a long way from being realized.

Then there’s the Miley trade. Both the Red Sox and Mariners are off to good starts, but no thanks in part to the deal that sent Miley and Jonathan Aro to Seattle in exchange for Smith, who is out for the season, and Roenis Elias, who had a forgettable Sox debut.

Wade Miley

2015: 4.46 ERA, 3.78 FIP and 6.8 K/9 in 32 starts

The Red Sox knew what they were getting from Miley last season. This year, the left-hander has been far worse. Miley owns a 4.74 DRA and 4.82 FIP through 13 starts with the Mariners this season. He’s allowing home runs at a career-high rate (1.5 HR/9) and inducing ground balls at a career-low rate (45 percent). These numbers are all coming with Safeco Field as his home ballpark. As bad as Boston’s starting rotation has been, it wouldn’t be any better with Miley in the fold.

Jonathan Aro

2015: 6.97 ERA, 5.23 FIP and 7.0 K/9 in six games with Boston; 3.14 ERA, 2.42 FIP and 9.2 K/9 in 26 games with Triple-A Pawtucket; 2.82 ERA, 2.78 FIP and 7.7 K/9 in eight games with Double-A Portland.

Aro was a decent reliever throughout his MiLB career with the Red Sox, and he’s continued to be one for Triple-A Tacoma. The 25-year-old righty owns a 2.27 ERA and 3.81 FIP over 23 appearances, while posting a 6.3 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. Pretty good, but nothing special. That’s who Aro is, and who he’ll continue to be, even if he works his way into a middle relief role in the majors.

The only other notable player the Red Sox lost in the offseason was Justin Masterson, but the Sox gladly let him walk in free agency after an ugly showing in 2015. This season hasn’t treated Masterson any better. He’s made five appearances (two starts) for the Indianapolis Indians – the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate – and owns a 5.17 ERA and 6.48 FIP. It’s safe to say he’s not due for any more post-Boston breakthrough seasons.

The Red Sox parted ways with numerous players throughout the organization last offseason. Overall, those players have met expectations in their new homes. What does that mean for the Sox? Ultimately very little given the way both offseason trades worked for the teams involved. Both the Red Sox and Padres benefited from the Kimbrel trade, while the Mariners and Sox have yet to get anything out of the Miley deal. Sometimes that’s how trades work. The fun part will be seeing what kind of players Margot and Co. develop into, while the Red Sox hope to get value out of Kimbrel and Smith for the next few years.

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Acquired RHP Carson Smith and LHP Roenis Elias from theSeattle Mariners in exchange for LHP Wade Miley and RHPJonathan Aro. [12/7]

The joke, as you may have heard, is that Dave Dombrowski came to Boston and inherited a team with a lot of solid pieces and loads of potential. The only part of the team that was a complete disaster was the bullpen-the one thing that the golden god of the big-ticket trade was never able to fix in Detroit. With the acquisition of Carson Smith to complement Craig Kimbrel and Koji Uehara, it looks like Dombo might have cracked the bullpen code.

All you need to do is give up one or two top-50 minor leaguers and a solid cost-controlled left-handed starter, and you too can build a very scary late-inning composite!

When your season is a 162-game grind, having this kind of depth is hugely important. Injuries are going to happen and players are going to underperform for long stretches, giving you needs that you didn’t anticipate in February and March. As such, it’s important to complement your major-league depth with plenty of reinforcements on the farm. We all know about how highly regarded this Boston farm system is, but that’s in terms of overall talent. Do they have the proper depth in the upper levels to help out the big-league squad at any position where a need may pop up?

Catcher

We’ll start behind the plate, because that’s usually where people start this kind of thing and I have a crippling inability to think for myself. It’s here where the Red Sox possess an impressive amount of depth that will be the envy of the league barring any sort of trade. Boston wasn’t one of the best teams in the league here last year, but they’ll likely be returning a Blake Swihart/Ryan Hanigan duo that looked much better down the stretch. On top of that, they’ll also have Christian Vazquez back from his Tommy John rehab. The defensive wizard will probably work the rust off in Triple-A, but he’ll be ready whenever an injury occurs and gives the Red Sox maybe the best third catcher in the league. Sandy Leon accepted his assignment to Pawtucket after the season, giving them even more depth behind the plate. This will not be a worry this winter.

Infield

As I mentioned before, the Red Sox have two perfect backup infielders in Holt and Shaw, as they can both handle multiple positions and have shown an ability to thrive in an everyday role. However, if/when they need to step into the starting lineup, that will open up empty bench spots. In Pawtucket, they look like they’ll have some middle infield options, but the corner infield could be more iffy. Starting up the middle, Deven Marrero is the obvious guy to look to. He’s a plus defender and came up for the first time in 2015. There’s still plenty to worry about with his bat, but as a third option coming from Triple-A he works just fine. However, Marrero is also a possible trade candidate, which could leave a hole. Luckily, Boston acquired Marco Hernandez as the player to be named later in the Felix Doubront deal a couple years ago, and he looks like a future utility player. While he doesn’t possess the same kind of glove as Marrero, he plays good defense at both second base and shortstop. Hernandez has also showed off solid bat-to-ball skills in the minors and should see some MLB time in 2016.

On the corners, things are a little less certain, as Boston’s depth depends on some reclamation projects. Chief among them in Allen Craig, who was outrighted off the 40-man roster once again. The only way he’ll see the majors again is if he lights the International League on fire over the first month or two of the season. Garin Cecchini never reached the heights of Craig, but he’s also fallen pretty far from his top prospect days, and 2016 could be his last chance to earn a permanent spot on a major-league roster. Finally, Sean Coyle was one of the dark horses to play a role on the 2015 team, but injuries and underperformance in the minors nixed that idea. It doesn’t look likely that any of these players will bounce all the way back in 2016, but there is some hope here that at least one can get back to (or finally reach) a respectable level.

Outfield

I alluded to this above, but this is the weakest area on the roster in terms of depth. Their current starting trio is full of youth and potential, but there’s not a lot of that in Pawtucket right now. On Opening Day, the only player who will be ready to step right in from Triple-A appears to be Bryce Brentz. That says about all you need to hear about the situation. Manuel Margot spent a good portion of last year in Double-A and should see Pawtucket at some point in 2016, but he’s not a viable depth option until at least July. That’s if he even stays with the organization. Expect the Red Sox to dip their toes into the minor-league free agent pool to find some extra outfield depth.

Rotation

This is the antithesis of the outfield, as Pawtucket’s rotation should be filled with viable rotation depth for the majors. There’s a chance that Henry Owens, Brian Johnson and Steven Wright all start the year in that rotation, and they are likely to be three of the top four backup starting pitchers, along with Joe Kelly. You can never have enough starting pitching, of course, and they could look for some more depth to add to this group, but it’s not a dire need at this moment if they add some quality to the top.

Bullpen

Like the rotation, the Red Sox should have plenty of relief arms handy in the Pawtucket bullpen. We saw the same pattern in 2015, as there were plenty of options to call upon when a fresh arm was needed. Of course, the issue was that none of those arms were particularly good. They’ll likely be looking at a similar cast of faces in 2016, at least to start the year. Heath Hembree, Jonathan Aro and Edwin Escobar will lead the way, although Pat Light and Jorge Marban should be able to provide some depth as well. Later in the year, Brandon Workman could be back in the mix and guys like Madison Younginer and Williams Jerez could have taken an unexpected step forward. Bullpen depth changes and evolves quickly and often, but as of right now there is some solid depth to pick from in case of injury.

★★★

The Red Sox are going to be focusing on the David Prices of the world this winter, but every year we see the best teams in the league rely on strong depth. Injuries happen to every ball club, and players who start the year in the minors have to play unexpectedly large roles in the middle of the season. Boston appears to be prepared for this scenario at most positions, with corner infield potentially being an issue and the outfield looking particularly shallow. While most of your attention can be paid to the big names, don’t forget about the depth pieces that get brought in to supplement the fringes of the roster.

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Top Play (WPA): The top two plays in the game were homers from each team in the fourth inning. Baltimore scored six times in the inning to end Eduardo Rodriguez’s day early, led by Matt Wieters’ two-run home run, which proved to be the top play by WPA (.219). Boston’s offense, which has been trending upwards recently, answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own when Alejandro De Aza homered against his former team to drive in Pablo Sandoval and Mike Napoli (.149). However, the bullpen could not hold down Baltimore’s offense as the Red Sox attempted to come from behind. Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts plated two more runs in the seventh on a single and a double, respectively.

Bottom Play (WPA): The man who had Boston’s top play in the game also produced the bottom play against his former team. In the sixth inning with no outs and Napoli on first, De Aza grounded into a double play (-.089) to kill Boston’s hope for a big inning.

Key Moment: Wieters’ two-run home run in the top of the fourth and the ensuing offensive outburst by Baltimore knocked Rodriguez out of the game. The bullpen allowed just two more runs over the final 5 1/3 innings, but those runs proved to be the difference in the game.

Trends to Watch: Eduardo Rodriguez has now made six major league starts. In the first three, he looked invincible, allowing just one earned run over 20 2/3 innings while striking out 21. His fourth start was where he showed he’s still a young player learning how to pitch at the major league level, allowing nine runs to the Toronto Blue Jays. He followed that up with a solid 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, before going just 3 2/3 on Thursday. This is to be expected with young players, especially considering his quick ascent and age of 22. He’s shown flashes of his potential so far, and although he doesn’t project to be an ace, he has the highest ceiling of any pitching prospect in the system and a bright future ahead of him.

Napoli broke up a streak of six strikeouts in a row in his first at-bat of the game with a bloop ground-rule double. He added another single in the fourth inning and scored two runs to raise his average just above the Mendoza line to .203. Napoli is known as a streaky hitter. Could this be the start of one of his hot streaks? Maybe, but that question has been asked many times already this season.

Jonathan Aro was called up from Pawtucket prior to the game, and was thrust into action right away due to Rodriguez’s early departure. He allowed four hits and one run while striking out two over his 1 1/3 innings of work. At this time last year, Aro was pitching in Low-A Greenville, but he has continued to excel and rocketed through the system. This season in 44 2/3 innings pitched split evenly between Portland and Pawtucket, he owns a 2.22 ERA with 49 strikeouts and just 11 walks. Even more impressively, he put up a ratio of 30 strikeouts to three walks after his promotion to the PawSox. While he doesn’t profile as a future closer-type, the 24-year-old looks like a nice bullpen piece with some late-inning upside.

Coming Next: The Red Sox head down to Florida for the start of a three-game weekend series against the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays tomorrow night.  The Rays are coming off a series loss to the Blue Jays, but still lead the New York Yankees by a game. If the Red Sox plan to mount any sort of a comeback this season, they need to win this series.

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