Boston's Tanner Houck Sold Bobby Dalbec His Airplane Seat and Used the Money to Buy a Samurai Sword
By Jackson Thompson
The Boston Red Sox renewed their history of questionable trades this offseason, and may have put two of their prospects in the mood to make a bizarre deal of their own. Thankfully for Boston, it's not the kind of swap that's likely to present any adverse effects to the team's record in 2020.
According to Christopher Smith of MassLive, pitching prospect Tanner Houck traded his window seat to fellow prospect Bobby Dalbec in exchange for a whopping $200 during a flight to Japan for the Premier 12 Tournament. Then, when they arrived, Houck used the money to buy himself... yes, a Samurai sword!
There's always that one spring training story you find & have much more fun writing than the others. This is the 2020 version:
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) February 25, 2020
Boston Red Sox slugger Bobby Dalbec traded Tanner Houck $200 for window seat on flight to Japan, Houck then bought samurai sword https://t.co/duEYVF5pbf
Why? Becuase it's awesome, that's why.
“Tanner Houck was in the window (seat), and I paid him like 200 bucks to take the window so I could sleep.” Dalbec said. “I think I high-balled a little bit. I think I could have got him for a little bit lower. But it was worth it."
Sounds like a win-win for both of these up-and-comers.
I call this: 'Two pitches from Tanner Houck' pic.twitter.com/Buzm2KcIMa
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) February 20, 2020
Houck apparently made no effort to negotiate, and simply went along with Dalbec's first offer. One has to wonder if he was inspired by his front office's handling of the Mookie Betts trade.
To be fair, as far as we know, the Betts deal didn't include any traditional Japanese bladed weapons. Sounds like a missed opportunity right there.