BREAKING: Ian Kinsler traded to Red Sox

Late Monday night, Ken Rosenthal reports that Ian Kinsler is on the move to Boston.

The news comes near the deadline when there is a flurry of movement across the league.

Kinsler is hitting .239/.304/.406/.710 in what has been a down year for him. However, he has picked it up of late, and his value is mostly derived from his excellent defense. The Red Sox will immediately plug him in in their infield with the absence of Dustin Pedroia.

The new Red Sox infielder has a partial no-trade clause that allows him to block trades to some of MLB’s other 29 teams. It remains to be seen whether the Red Sox were a team on his list.

Interestingly enough, the news came three seconds after yours truly had posted in a Halos Heaven group chat pretending that Bryce Harper had been traded to the Angels. Rahul Setty and Rick Souddress were completely fooled. In an interesting juxtaposition, the news broke seconds later, and I thought they made a joke.

The return, according to Jon Heyman:

Ty Buttrey, a 25-year old RHP, is ranked 19th in the Red Sox farm by MLB.com. Williams Jerez, a 26-year old LHP, is ranked 23rd.

Buttrey has a 3.97 career minors ERA across 453 innings. Jerez has a 3.39 career minors ERA across 302.2 innings, and he is the subject of this interesting article.

The Angels will also send $1.8 million of the remaining $3.6 million on Kinsler’s contract. The Red Sox are near the luxury tax line.

For the Angels, this may mean that Luis Valbuena will once again be slotted into the starting lineup. Stay tuned.

Thank you, Ian. May we see you in the playoffs.