The Red Sox are listening to trade offers for Blake Swihart. They are not willing to part with the benchwarmer for a small cost.

People familiar with some trade discussions described the Red Sox’ asking price as unreasonable for a player who isn’t playing and may be an odd man out when Dustin Pedroia returns in the near future.

“Hard to find a trade partner when you’re asking for some of teams' best prospects,” said a talent evaluator with one team that has talked to the Sox about Swihart.

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Swihart’s agent said last week that he has asked Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to trade Swihart, who, barring a change of heart, likely will only get a look on this year’s Sox team if there’s an injury to Sandy Leon or Christian Vazquez.

In a head-scratching scenario overall, the Sox' strategy with Swihart may be to create a bidding war by designating him for assignment when Pedroia returns. At that point, teams can be assured he'll be traded imminently.