Evaluating the Red Sox Jeremy Hermida trade

Today the Boston Red Sox swapped pitching prospects Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez for Florida Marlins outfielder Jeremy Hermida. Hermida is roughly a slightly above average replacement level player. His career wOBA is .336 and his defense has been worth negative 26.7 runs total. Hermida will likely platoon and be used as a left-handed bat off the bench. Hunter Jones is a lefty reliever who spent most of 2009 with Pawtucket. In '09 he had 6.62 K/9 and 4.09 BB/9, the lowest K-BB ratio of his career. He also posted a 4.86 FIP in 2009. 2008 was a much more productive season for Jones as he had a FIP of 2.83 and a K/BB rate of 3.57 Jose Alvarez is a 20-year old lefty. His small frame (5'11 150 lbs) is a concern and could possibly keep him in the bullpen in the future. In 14 games in Low-A (12 starts) he posted an oustanding 6.30 K/BB rate and a 2.96 FIP. He had less success coming out of the bullpen in Advanced-A but still posted a 3.56 FIP. He is not a big strike out guy and will probably struggle in the higher levels of the minors. Overall it's a good move for the Sox. They acquire an replacement level major league bat for the cost of two fringe prospects. They Red Sox have plenty of more talented pitching depth ahead of these two.