The Red Sox already added one new infielder with Saturday’s surprising Connelly Early-for-Curtis Mead swap with the Nationals, but they’re still on the hunt for more bats. Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Sox have been canvassing the market for shortstop help.
It’s not all that surprising to see the Sox looking to upgrade at short. Trevor Story has been out for a bit more than two months after undergoing a hernia procedure and wasn’t productive when healthy. Perhaps that was due to the injury, but he’s hitting just .206/.244/.303 this season — nowhere close to last year’s .263/.308/.443 slash (which included a huge .287/.331/.494 line over his final four months of play).
With Story out for more than two months, Boston has given several players a look at short. None of Marcelo Mayer, Tsung-Che Cheng or Andruw Monasterio has performed all that well. Utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa has hit well in a small sample of 34 plate appearances as a shortstop, but he’s been a roughly league-average bat overall while bouncing all over the diamond and is currently on the IL himself. Nick Sogard, currently on optional assignment, has taken five plate appearances at shortstop. Overall, Boston shortstops have turned in a .242/.306/.342 batting line this season.
Story said recently that he is hopeful of returning at some point in August, but he’s 33 and will be coming off a notable surgery. This is already the third time in the past four seasons that Story has missed substantial time due to injury. He’s signed through 2027, but it’s hard for the Red Sox to count on him all that much given the track record (or lack thereof) in recent seasons.
The Red Sox don’t necessarily need a long-term option at short. Twenty-year-old Franklin Arias, a consensus top-five prospect in the entire sport, was recently promoted from Double-A to Triple-A. He’s obviously quite young, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Arias could get a look as soon as next year — possibly even late this season if he really thrives with Boston’s top affiliate in Worcester. Then again, Arias doesn’t need to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft until the 2027-28 offseason. Calling him up this year would tie up an additional 40-man spot all winter.
That could still hold more appeal than overpaying in a seller’s market. There aren’t many shortstops expected to be available over the next week. Zach Neto could be out there, but the asking price will be steep and the Sox may not want to surrender multiple high-end young talents in order to acquire three-plus years of him when Arias is trending toward being an option well before Neto is slated to be a free agent. Other options aren’t exactly abundant.
Back in May, it seemed plausible that the Astros could listen on Jeremy Peña when their season looked to be circling the drain. They’ve since rallied back into the playoff picture. The Mets would surely love to ditch the remainder of Bo Bichette‘s contract, but that seems far too weighty for the Red Sox to acquire. He’s owed $42MM in each of the next two seasons and can opt out both this offseason and next. Giants fans will try to come up with scenarios that could see them jettison Willy Adames‘ contract, but that’d be a tough sell even if San Francisco were taking back some of the Sox’ unwanted contracts (e.g. Brayan Bello, Kristian Campbell). Adames is stumbling through a career-worst season and is owed $140MM over five years from 2027-31. The Mariners have moved J.P. Crawford to third base to accommodate top prospect Colt Emerson‘s promotion. He’s an impending free agent but also a clubhouse leader over in Seattle who’d be tough to trade in-season.
CJ Abrams merits a mention. The Nationals hired Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations in the offseason, plucking him away from his assistant general manager job with the Red Sox. Since the switch, the clubs have lined up on a couple of deals. There was the aforementioned Early/Mead swap just a few days ago. The Nats also sent Jake Bennett to Boston in the offseason for pitching prospect Luis Perales.
Perhaps they could line up on another deal here, though there are also reasons why it might not happen. Abrams is controlled for another two seasons. He looked like more of a viable trade candidate when the Nats were firmly in the rebuilding camp. But they have hovered around the playoff race all year and seem less like sellers.
On top of that, Abrams is considered a poor shortstop defender. He has minus-five Defensive Runs Saved this year and minus-11 Outs Above Average. It’s expected he’ll be eventually moved off the position. Perhaps the Sox could put him at short temporarily with the idea of bumping him to second for Story or Arias, but it would be a bit out of character since the Sox have placed such a premium on run prevention this year. He would also, despite his flaws, cost a haul since he’s hitting .297/.367/.573 and has 17 stolen bases.
Time will tell if the Sox can put something together but it’s a notable stance. The Sox looked like sellers a few weeks ago but have been the hottest club in baseball for a while and now possess a Wild Card spot. The trade deadline is on August 3.
Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images
