The Red Sox continue to find huge asking prices in their search for a controllable shortstop. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe reports that the Angels are seeking a prospect package built around Franklin Arias in talks about Zach Neto.
Arias is Boston’s top prospect and generally ranked among the three to five best in the sport. Baseball America has him 3rd behind Jesús Made and Leo De Vries. Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs have him only behind Made. Keith Law of The Athletic slots him fourth behind Kade Anderson, Made, and De Vries. Arias checks in seventh on MLB Pipeline’s list.
It’s an ambitious ask from the Halos, one that’d be very surprising if the Red Sox met. The 20-year-old Arias was recently promoted to Triple-A after destroying Double-A arms to the tune of a .318/.407/.587 clip with 19 home runs. He’s viewed as a lock to stick at shortstop and could be a plus defender. Arias is the kind of foundational prospect whom teams rarely trade.
The Angels’ ask reflects the premium which teams place on a controllable shortstop. The Halos have Neto via arbitration for three and a half seasons. He’s on track for his third straight 20+ homer season, ranking third at the position behind CJ Abrams and Colson Montgomery with 19 longballs. Neto has drawn walks at a career-high 10% clip, but that’s partially because pitchers are throwing him far fewer offerings within the strike zone. Neto still has a tendency to chase and trails only Kyle Schwarber with 155 strikeouts.
Neto is also tied for third in MLB with 15 errors. The public metrics are split on him defensively. DRS has him right around league average this year after grading him as a plus defender for his first couple seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average consistently rates him as a minus with the glove.
Boston has looked for a shortstop to bridge the gap until Arias’ arrival. Trevor Story is signed through 2027 but rehabbing from sports hernia surgery. He hit .206/.244/.303 in 41 games before going on the injured list. Marcelo Mayer hasn’t proven himself at the MLB level and has been out since late June with a stress reaction in his left arm.
The Sox checked in with the Marlins about Otto Lopez, who is also under club control for three and a half seasons. Boston reportedly balked when Miami sought top-tier prospects (which could certainly have included Arias) in those conversations. It’s debatable which of Lopez or Neto has the higher trade value — the former is having the better season, the latter has more power and a superior career track record — but neither seems likely to get the Sox to budge on their young shortstop.
Tampa Bay has also checked in on Neto. Given the Halos’ ask from Boston, it wouldn’t be surprising if they’d look for the Rays to include their top prospect, center fielder Theo Gillen, as a starting point.
Monday might be a pivot point for the Angels, who are entertaining trade possibilities on Neto and controllable starters Reid Detmers and José Soriano. Interim GM John Mozeliak publicly acknowledged as much on Soriano when they scratched him from his start on Saturday. It doesn’t mean trades are inevitable but reflects a real chance the Angels kick off a rebuild which they’ve resisted for years. Jeff Passan of ESPN writes that other teams expect the Halos to move at least one of those three players.
