Who won the deal between Astros and Red Sox Christian Vazquez?

The Houston Astros continued their strong Monday by bringing in catcher Christian Vazquez from the Boston Red Sox. But who won the trade?

The day before the MLB close, the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros conducted business. The Yankees were able to acquire Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Frankie Montas and reliever Lou Trivino in exchange for four players. The Astros were able to win Baltimore Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini. But Houston wasn’t done yet.

According to ESPN-MLB insider Jeff Passan, it was the Astros Completed a trade with the Boston Red Sox for catcher Christian Vazquez. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale later tweeted that Houston sent its potential Nos. 28 and 29 contestants, utility Enmauel Valdez and outfielder Wilyer Abreu, respectively.

So who wins this trade between the two teams that met in the ALCS last year?

Astro’s commercial class

The Astros are building on what feels like an inevitability — a postseason series against the Yankees. They were able to bring in Mancini, who was one of the top first basemen before the deadline. Now they get Vazquez, who was one of the top catchers behind the Chicago Cubs’ Willson Contreras. Oh, and he was obviously from another AL East team in the Red Sox.

This season, Vazquez is having one of his better seasons in the batter’s box. In 84 games starting Aug. 1, Vazquez is posting .282/.327/.432 while hitting eight homers, 42 RBI and 83 hits.

Make no mistake, getting one of the best catchers available is a win for the Astros. What’s even better is that he has a lot of experience calling games against the Yankees.

Grade: B+

Trading class of the Red Sox

Trading your start catcher away is never ideal. But in the case of Boston, Vazquez should become an unrestricted free agent by the end of this season. So the Red Sox decided to get something back for him. They received Houston’s prospects #28 and #29.

Valdez started the season with Double-A, posting .357/.463/.649 while recording 11 home runs, 45 RBI and 60 hits. He was promoted to Triple-A, and he was still raking the plate, posting a .296 batting average, a .906 OPS, 10 home runs, 32 RBI and 47 hits.

Abreau spent the entire 2022 season at Double-A, hitting .249/.399/.459 while hitting 15 home runs, 54 RBI, 81 runs scored and 82 hits.

The Red Sox appear to be getting some good prospects in exchange for a catcher who should become a free agent this winter.

Grade: C+