Red Sox May Regret Letting Prospect Go for Nothing

Letting players leave for nothing -- or essentially nothing -- has become a frustrating hallmark of the Chaim Bloom era with the Boston Red Sox. It started with the Mookie Betts trade three years ago and continued this offseason as Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez and Nate Eovaldi all departed in free agency. It's a big reason why the team that won the 2018 World Series is mostly gone now and has failed to make the playoffs in three of the last four years.

While the Red Sox will certainly miss all of those guys in 2023, they may also miss a pitching prospect who got away this winter.

Boston failed to protect pitching prospect Noah Song by putting him on the 40-man roster, making him eligible for the Rule 5 Draft in December. The Philadelphia Phillies promptly scooped him up and will see what he has in Spring Training.

Song's situation was complicated by his naval service, which had prevented him from pitching since 2019. The former fourth-round pick showed promise during his lone season in the Red Sox organization, however, posting a dazzling 1.06 ERA in seven starts at Single-A that year.

With Song's status still up in the air a few months ago, Boston figured he probably wouldn't be able to pitch for them in 2023, if ever. That changed this week, however, when he was transferred from active duty to a reserve role, enabling him to resume his baseball career.

Time will tell if Song still has the stuff that made him such a highly regarded prospect a few years ago. If he does, the Red Sox will wish they'd hung on to him just a little bit longer.