The Boston Red Sox must now replace the infield production of third baseman Alex Bregman, who has officially walked out the door and has landed with the Chicago Cubs on a five-year, $175 million contract. A huge blow for the Red Sox, who have yet to make a free agent signing this offseason.
However, the sky isn’t totally falling, and there are still six weeks remaining in MLB’s hot stove season for Craig Breslow to restore the faith among the fan base, which is a little tarnished after recent moves. Despite the lack of action in the free agent market, the Red Sox have linked with the St. Louis Cardinals for two impactful trades, as former Boston executive Chaim Bloom is now running things in the Cardinals organization. Could third baseman Nolan Arenado be traded soon? And should the Red Sox be his top suitor?
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Red Sox-Cardinals Trade Idea Lands Nolan Arenado
There have been rumors of Nolan Arenado being traded for basically the entirety of 2025. The Cardinals’ front office is expected to be working out a deal to send him where he wants, and Boston seems like the perfect destination. The Red Sox and Cardinals have already linked up for two big trades this offseason. First, the Red Sox acquired starter Sonny Gray, and then first baseman Willson Contreras landed in Boston.
In this trade idea, the Red Sox acquire eight-time All-Star infielder Nolan Arenado in exchange for pitchers Connelly Early, Jordan Hicks, and a prospect, Justin Gonzales.
One thing the Red Sox have going for them at the moment is having a plethora of starting pitchers, which they can use to their advantage as trade bait.
Nolan Arenado had a down 2025 season, but it seemed that he wanted out of St. Louis the whole season, and a move to Boston could cap off his Hall of Fame career. Arenado is a career .282 hitter with 353 home runs, 1184 RBIs, and 405 doubles. He is regarded as the best player in the Colorado Rockies franchise.
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Nolan Arenado’s Fit with Red Sox
Nolan Arenado’s fit with the Red Sox is pretty simple; he slots is as the everyday third baseman now that Alex Bregman is no longer with the team. Playing at Fenway Park should absolutely benefit Arenado’s production, and while Boston has other internal infield options like Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, those young stars might not be totally ready yet to play every day in MLB.
It’s important to note that Nolan Arenado comes with a $275 million contract, which has just two seasons remaining on it. This is the main reason the Cardinals have been wanting to offload him.
This speculative trade idea really does make sense for both sides, and if the Cardinals are headed for a two or three-year rebuild, now is the perfect time to acquire a couple top prospects in return for an aging Nolan Arenado. The Red Sox feel desperate for a star at this moment, which leaves Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, Chaim Bloom, in a great spot.
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14 Comments
14 Comments
Terrible idea for a trade. Are the Red Sox crazy for giving up Early? This makes no sense at all. I’d much rather see Mayer at 3B. 🙆🏻♂️
🤣🤣🤣. Let me get this straight, you believe Boston should only have to give up two of their top 5 prospects? Early – 4, Gonzalez – 5, plus a wild card in Hicks, to get the great privilege of paying a 34 year old 3B who’s very clearly and very severely regressing and is scheduled to make $27M this season? His has averaged a 2 WAR the past three seasons. St. Louis owes him $42M over the next two years. What they were trying to do last year, and are once again trying to do this year, is a salary dump. You don’t get two top 5 prospects and then some for a salary dump. I’m not saying I wouldn’t entertain the idea of him coming to Boston, but that would be with salary being eaten by St. Louis and very little going back in return. Or maybe a bad contract swap. Arenado for Yoshida straight up.
Wanted to say Yoshida or even Jarren Duran could be a great centerpiece, but then the Red Sox would likely want prospects in return. Maybe throw out Gonzalez and add another MLB-level player and Early remains the center piece of this deal. The Bloom-Red Sox familiarity ultimately drove the idea.
I’d be fine, and feel like most of Boston would agree, that Yoshida for Arenado in a one for one swap would be fine with us. Yoshida is a good hitter, he’s just very limited defensively. If St. Louis sees value in filling their DH spot with a good bat, then it’s a fair trade. Yoshida and Arenado bring almost perfectly balanced pros and cons. They both have value, but their limitations don’t really justify the contracts for their respective teams. But I would guess St. Louis would rather have an above average bat that doesn’t block their young guys than Arenado, and Boston would certainly rather have a plus glove that fills a hole at 3B rather than a DH only guy that limits what they can do. I think Arenado could bounce back a little with the bat by moving to Fenway, and putting him back next to Story could only be a positive.
Duran is a whole different ballgame. He has averaged 5.7 WAR and is a fringe MVP finalist guy. He’s only 29 and controllable for three more years through arbitration. If Arenado is included in a trade, he should be viewed as an aging star that is underwater on his contract, so he’s a negative value. With Yoshida being the return, that makes sense. -1 for -1. With Duran being the return, Arenado being a negative means Duran would cost less in prospects if Arenado wasn’t included. It would cost Duran’s value in prospects + enough prospect value to offset the negative value of Arenado. Arenado = -1 Duran = +5-10. There were rumors Boston’s asking price from KC centered around Cole Ragans. Arenado’s value is not close to Ragan’s value.
I’m not saying Ragan’s for Duran isn’t a huge ask and very unlikely, but the difference in value between Ragans and Duran is far smaller than the difference in value between Arenado at this point in his career and either Duran or a package that includes Early, Gonzalez, Hicks. If you didn’t see, Early made his debut last year and was dominant. Both Early and Tolle should be competing for possible rotation spots in Spring training and Witherspoon should be debuting by early next year at the latest. I can’t imagine any of them being traded in deals for anything less than cost controlled superstars in their prime right now.
A more realistic trade proposal for Duran starts with Wetherholt and then some. Arenado doesn’t have that kind of value anymore. Maybe 29 year old Arenado could justify a return of Duran, but even then, you have to remember, Duran isn’t on mega deal. He’s far cheaper than Arenado was at 29.
Add up both salaries split the money down the middle, St. Louis saves a little, Boston Spends a little more and you swap Nolan for Masataka. Story & Arrenado both FA after the 2027 season if there is one. I would imagine both teams do this. Duran, or any other know prospect of merit need not be mentioned as it is way out in left field.
Bloom nor Breslow are this stupid to mention anything close to this fantasy. Dude has to be a cards fan or an imbicile.
That’s hilarious Lol, I wrote something similar before reading anybodys comments. & the exact same swap. The otger stuff involved drugs and his article due.