As the Boston Red Sox look to strengthen their roster and make a run at a postseason berth for the first time since 2018, feeling “extreme urgency” to get back there according to the team’s president, a veteran of one of their four recent World Series-winning teams has offered an idea of how to do it.
Jake Peavy, a pitcher on the Red Sox 2013 “Boston Strong” World Series championship team, who is now an on-air commentator for MLB Network on Monday proposed a possible trade that could rearrange the Red Sox lineup to allow for more solid power hitting throughout the batting order while, perhaps just as importantly, sturdying the infield defense.
Jake Peavy Wants Red Sox to Cut Ties With Japanese DH
The trade outlined by Peavy would send full-time lefty designated hitter Masataka Yoshida to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for veteran, 10-time Gold Glove third baseman, and eight-time All Star, Nolan Arenado.
The Red Sox signed Yoshida from the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Pacific League before the 2023 season. To acquire Yoshida, the Red Sox were required to pay the Buffaloes a “posting fee” of $15.375 million. They then signed the Japanese star, who also played on Japanese national teams that won an Olympic gold medal and a World Baseball Classic title, to a five-year, $90 million contract.
Yoshida now has three years remaining on the contract. But his defense proved problematic and before the 2024 season Red Sox Manager Alex Cora converted Yoshida to a full-time DH.
Arenado on the other hand has been perhaps MLB’s premier defensive third baseman, as his Gold Glove awards in every year of his 12-year career except last year attest. Even in 2024 when he failed to take home the Gold Glove award, the 33-year-old led the National League in both putouts for a third baseman with 103 and fielding percentage at .977. He committed only nine errors in 392 defensive chances.
Arenado Would Offer Huge Defensive Upgrade
The Red Sox currently have Rafael Devers at third base. Prior to 2023 they signed Devers to the richest contract in team history at $313.5 million over 10 years. But while Devers’ offense continues at All Star levels — he smacked 28 home runs with an .871 OPS in 2024 — his defense is often a liability for the Red Sox.
Devers led the American League in third base errors last season with 12. In fact, last season marked the seventh time in Devers’ eight-year career that he has led all AL third baseman in errors, a remarkable run of defensive ineptitude.
Trading Yoshida for Arenado would free up the DH slot for Devers to take it over full-time, and replace his unreliable glove at the hot corner with one of the most reliable defenders in the game.
But it was the third component of Peavy’s suggested trade that generated the most controversy. In addition to Yoshida, Peavy also said the Red Sox should send two prospects to St. Louis — 20-year-old Dominican center fielder Miguel Bleis and 24-year-old righty starting hurler Richard Fitts.
Fitts was the 2023 Eastern League pitcher of the year when he was in the New York Yankees system. The Red Sox acquired him when they traded Alex Verdugo to New York after 2023. He has already made his Major League debut, starting four games for Boston in 2024 and posting an impressive 1.74 ERA.
Bleis is the seventh-ranked prospect in the Red Sox system. So, while a one-to-one trade of Yoshida for Arenado may benefit both teams, is Peavy’s proposal to add the two highly-rated prospects in the deal too high a price to pay?
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Red Sox World Series Champ Pitcher Says Trade $90 Million DH For 8-Time All Star