If the Sox aren't in the hunt for a playoff spot and Ottavino is having a good season (which he should - again he had one atrocious appearance last year that super-inflated his numbers), then Ottavino will be traded at the deadline for another 1-2 prospects.I believe that he took the better deal with us only because the Sox were willing to accept the lesser prospect... The rest is GM speak.
What's he going to say "We dumped a guy that's completely cooked, and conned our biggest rival into taking him off our hands by throwing in a prospect that has no shot of ever amounting to anything! Muhahaha!"
Hopefully Bloom scouted them a bit before dumping 8 million.
So in essence this is Bloom using money - somewhere between 7 and 11 million (which includes that 3 mil appendage) - to acquire anywhere from 1-3 prospects to continue to supplement the farm system.
I will say one thing, I can't wait for minor league baseball to start so we can start tracking our players in the system again.