Craig Breslow Discusses Red Sox’ Trade Outlook

Despite a convincing win over the Braves tonight, the Red Sox sit at a disappointing 23-31 that has them at the bottom of the AL East. A scarcity of great teams in the American League means every club is still within six games of a Wild Card spot, so even the slowest starters can talk themselves into the possibility of turning things around.

That said, the Sox are obviously aware they’ll need to play far better than their current 69-win pace to avoid a sell-off two months from now. The front office already made an early-season managerial change going from Alex Cora to interim skipper Chad Tracy. They also overhauled the hitting coach group in an effort to get more from a dramatically underperforming lineup.

The Sox were 11th in the AL in scoring and dead last in OPS (.667) when Cora and multiple hitting coaches were fired on April 25. They’re up to sixth in the Junior Circuit in OPS since then but second from the bottom in runs scored, better only than a reeling Detroit team. Playing the past three weeks without Roman Anthony hasn’t helped, but the second-year outfielder was struggling even before a wrist sprain sent him to the injured list. The biggest issue is an infield that, aside from first baseman Willson Contreras, has contributed almost nothing offensively.

Reports emerged over the weekend that the Sox were already gauging the trade market for lineup help. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow echoed that in speaking with reporters on Wednesday afternoon (links via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic and Chris Cotillo of MassLive).

“We’ve been aggressive in terms of outreach and trying to identify players that we think can help us. Obviously, we’ve talked about the fact that the league is very compressed and there’s a bunch of teams — despite poor performance — who are still in it,” Breslow said. “The other side of that is that there are other teams in the league who have not played well that otherwise could think about moving players and are saying, ‘Hey, we’re not that far out of it.’”

One could certainly argue the Red Sox themselves are among that group. Breslow confirmed they’re not interested in selling off any veteran pieces this early in the year, telling Cotillo they’re “focused on doing everything we can to turn our season around.” Boston would certainly have some big names they could dangle on the trade front if their performance doesn’t improve.

Sonny Gray will be a free agent when his 2027 mutual option is declined, though the Sox would surely need to cover a portion of the $10MM buyout if they trade him. Contreras is signed through 2027 at a $17.25MM annual value, not including the $8MM the Cardinals sent to Boston as a condition of last offseason’s trade. Aroldis Chapman, probably the second-best reliever in MLB after Mason Miller, has a $13MM option for next year that’ll vest once he reaches 40 innings on the season.

That’s clearly not the short-term focus for Breslow’s front office. They’re looking for ways to inject some life into the offense, ideally via acquiring a right-handed bat. They could upgrade over the middle infield duo of Marcelo Mayer and the currently injured Trevor Story. Offseason trade pickup Caleb Durbin has hit so poorly that he’s losing playing time at third base to Nick Sogard and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Durbin still has a couple minor league options remaining and might need a reset at Triple-A.

It’s unlikely there’ll be any significant trade pieces on the move this early in the season. The Giants could shop Luis Arraez, who is holding his own defensively in a move back to second base. San Francisco already traded Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey in a surprise deal. CJ Abrams would be the prize of the infield trade market, but the Nationals almost certainly aren’t moving him while they’re above .500.

The Twins recently optioned struggling former first overall pick Royce Lewis to Triple-A; perhaps he’d be available as a reclamation target. The Mets’ Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are no stranger to trade rumors. New York would presumably still have a high ask on the lefty-hitting Baty. Vientos hits right-handed but has been a full-time first baseman this year. He’d be a tough fit for Boston unless they move away from their offseason focus on infield defense and install him at third base.