The league’s archrivals made an intriguing trade deal during last off-season. The deal sent Yankees’ right-handed pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz to Boston. In exchange, the Yankees received catcher Carlos Narváez. It wasn’t as big as the 1920 trade of Babe Ruth, but Bob Nightengale from USA Today still drew a comparison: “It may be a century later, but the Boston Red Sox at least are getting a little payback from selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.”

The Red Sox did pull off one of the best moves of the season by landing Narvaez. However, it’s not like the Yankees came out empty-handed. This season, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz has climbed all the way up to becoming the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect. Across 19 outings between High-A and Double-A, the 21-year-old right-hander has posted a 2.87 ERA, 122 strikeouts, and an 8-5 record.

While he was a great prospect back in Boston, Rodriguez-Cruz believes he’s improved even more in the Yankees’ environment. When opening up about the move, he appeared to throw a little shade at his former team, saying, “Ever since I got here, they put more emphasis on trusting all my stuff and using all my pitches, getting good counts and trying to use all of them to my advantage where it plays best.” Rodriguez-Cruz was subtle; he didn’t call out the Red Sox.

He continued, “It’s just more confidence. Ever since I got here, they just let me pitch and their letting me execute, and I feel like I’ve taken advantage of that.” He appeared to express that the Yankees have allowed him to remove the restraints this season. As a result, Rodriguez-Cruz is now one of the top prospects in the Bronx.

As for Narvaez, he has hit .248 with 9 home runs and 33 RBIs for the Red Sox. So, the Red Sox wouldn’t be upset about this deal. However, he had been dealing with a knee injury as of late. Still, manager Alex Cora confirmed that Narvaez is expected to return for Monday’s series opener against the Houston Astros after missing the weekend matchup against the Padres.

Carlos Narváez leads all Red Sox rookies

Narvaez has arguably established his name as the most impactful rookie; he’s leading all the Red Sox rookies. His numbers back it up, too. With 85 games played and 2.6 bWAR recorded, he’s ahead of all the other rookies. He took over the starting catcher role from Connor Wong, who apparently had been poor at the plate this season.

Narvaez has seemingly become indispensable. When he was down with a knee injury, it became a real concern. However, he underwent certain tests earlier this week, and it turns out the Red Sox have avoided the worst. After their 7-3 loss to the Royals, Tim Healey from the Boston Globe reported that Narvaez is doing fine. The medical tests revealed that there are no long-lasting concerns.

Before going on the injured list with a knee injury, Narvaez had slashed .248/.319/.409 this season. When the Red Sox acquired him, they certainly wouldn’t have expected to lean on him as much as they have lately. Narvaez had been handling a major workload, more than he ever did back in the minor leagues. From here on, it’s only going to get tougher as we inch closer to October.

The 26-year-old was first anticipated to be available for Sunday’s game against the San Diego Padres. However, he wasn’t on the lineup card. On the brighter side, Alex Cora confirmed his presence for Monday’s game against the Houston Astros. Hopefully, the Red Sox were cautious with his return.