The Boston Red Sox are heading into the final week of the MLB trade deadline with an aggressive mindset and a clear set of needs they’re hoping to fill, even after the rough news this week that new deadline acquisition Curtis Mead broke a bone in his wrist in his first game with the team. Boston is still seeking a right-handed slugger, which they were doing even before Mead got hurt, and they’re hoping to do so by bringing in a hard-hitting shortstop, despite the fact that the Red Sox have one at the top of their system–Franklin Arias.
Still, Zach Neto of the Angels, CJ Abrams of the Nationals and Otto Lopez of the Marlins are among those whom the Red Sox have reportedly shown interest. Trevor Story is still uncertain as he is coming back from a sports hernia injury, and the Red Sox appear ready to cut ties with him and move on in search of a more permanent solution at the position.
Story is under contract this year, at $25 million, and for next year at $25 million as well. There’s a team option on his final year.
Franklin Arias Has 20 Homers in Red Sox System
But what about Arias? He is only 20 years old, and began the season at Double-A Portland, where he hit .318 with 19 homers and a .993 OPS. He was called up to Triple A this week and homered in his first at-bat for Worcester (though he is 0-for-11 since). He is clearly the Red Sox’s big hope when it comes shortstop-of-the-future.
Boston appears to be under pressure to win now, though, after a 15-game winning streak vaulted them back into the American League playoff picture. That means the Red Sox might not want to wait around on seeing whether Arias can fight his way to the big leagues this summer–and might need to include him in a trade for a player who can push the team forward in the final two months of the season.
Blocking Franklin Arias?
But one AL scout told the duo of Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo of MassLive that Red Sox’s determination to find a shortstop might be regrettable.
They write: “Landing a shortstop would signal the Red Sox waving the white flag on Trevor Story, whose Red Sox tenure has been defined by injuries. … Adding Mead and a shortstop makes the pathway to regular at-bats much less clear for Marcelo Mayer moving forward. And perhaps most strikingly, it further clogs the pipes ahead of the arrival of top prospect Franklin Arias, who was just promoted to Triple-A.”
Red Sox Recent Prospect History is Rough
The Red Sox, according to Cotillo and McAdam, would include either Arias or Mayer in a blockbuster trade, and perhaps both.
There is increased appetite for that in Boston, no doubt. For the better part of two years, after all, the Fenway faithful were sold on the idea that a Big Four of prospects–Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, Kristian Campbell and Mayer–would be coming, and would be comparable to the Fred Lynn-Jim Rice group that anchored the team’s success in the 1970s.
Instead, Anthony and Mayer struggled this year and have spent more time on the injured list than on the field, while Teel was shipped off to the White Sox (he’s been injured, too) and Campbell crashed out of the big leagues after two-plus months.
Franklin Arias is the No. 7 prospect in baseball, per MLB.com. But it’s understandable why the Red Sox would not eb afraid to trade him.
Red Sox Questioned for Trade Strategy Amid Franklin Arias Surge