They were never going to let Kopech start this season. The best they could do was limit innings until the very end and then try and get him 2-3 in each relief appearance. Even if you thought bullpen was a need, Kimbrel was a terrible option. I know I got yelled out of threads months ago but his stats were really poor in 2019 and 2020. In addition it usually (although may be anecdotal) seems that closers who are moved to set up underperform.
Had the Sox traded garbage for him it would have been worth the risk. But Heuer actually outperformed Kimbrel after the trade. So the Sox actually made themselves worse.
Just for comparison;
Heuer in 2020:
3
0
1.000
1.52
21
0
4
0
0
1
23.2
12
4
4
1
9
0
25
Kimbrel in 2020:
0
1
.000
5.28
18
0
11
0
0
2
15.1
10
9
9
2
12
1
28
You basically were giving up on the younger cheaper player who was having a bad 2021, for the older more expensive player who was having a good 2021. I really hate being negative about trades because hindsight is easy, but when I first read it I actually felt sick to my stomach because of how brutal it was. It reminded me of something @Steve9347would do to someone in OOTP. Convince them to take the old player who is having a good half season and grab the younger players who are having a down year.
Sorry to bring you into this Steve, hope youre living the good life.