Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has shown a tendency to trade with the same teams multiple times. In recent months, the St. Louis Cardinals have become his favorite partner.
The relationship between the two sides started at the trade deadline when Breslow traded top infield prospect Blaze Jordan for reliever Steven Matz in the best deadline move he's ever made. In the winter, he traded for Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to bring experience to his rotation and infield.
The season hasn't yet startred, but Contreras and Gray seem to be fitting in well with their new team. Both will be on the Opening Day roster, barring any unforeseen changes. The young pitchers that the Red Sox sent to the Cardinals haven't gotten so lucky.
Boston swapped Richard Fitts for Gray and Hunter Dobbins for Contreras (prospects were also involved in both trades). Their impact on the Cardinals' big league squad won't be immediate as Fitts has been optioned to the minor leagues and Dobbins will open the season on the injured list.
Former Red Sox pitchers Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins won't open 2026 season in big leagues with Cardinals
Fitts is still trying to establish himself as a full-time big leaguer after he'd been called up and sent down by the Red Sox as a minor league depth arm. He posted a solid spring training with St. Louis — he allowed six runs on nine hits with nine strikeouts and three walks over 9.1 innings.
The Cardinals will seemingly award the final spot in their rotation to Andre Pallante, who's posted a 2.57 ERA over 14 spring training innings. Even if Fitts won't open the season in the big leagues, he'll get his chance in St. Louis soon enough.
Red Sox fans may remember that Dobbins tore his ACL while making a play at first base in July. He had surgery to repair the ligament shortly after the injury, but he isn't yet fully healed.
According to Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dobbins has been able to build his arm up this spring, but his mobility is still limited. He'll need more time to heal and work on his fielding before he can pitch in the big leagues. He injured his knee over seven months ago, so his recovery seems to be going well, given the severity of an ACL tear.
Boston's many trades with the Cardinals were executed to make the Red Sox better immediately, while Chaim Bloom has long-term growth in mind. Fitts and Dobbins will have to wait a bit longer for their impact to reach the major leagues while Contreras and Gray make themselves at home with a new team.