The Boston Red Sox front office has had its eye on potential first base options ahead of the trade deadline.
The Baltimore Orioles' Ryan O'Hearn has been named a good fit by multiple sources. The division rival has a club option on his contract for 2026, and his offense would be more reliable than Abraham Toro has been in recent games. O'Hearn is slashing .282/.375/.450 with an .825 OPS, 14 doubles and 12 homers over 91 games this season.
The Red Sox have recently been linked to another division rival first baseman ahead of the deadline. The Tampa Bay Rays' recent struggles and slide down the American League East standings have made them more willing to deal first baseman Yandy Díaz. Diaz would be an ideal fit with the Red Sox, as he's a veteran first baseman with some pop to spark the lineup.
Díaz is batting .284/.345/.471 with an .816 OPS, 19 doubles, a triple, 18 homers and 61 RBI in 100 games this season. He owns an 87th percentile strikeout rate and an 85th percentile whiff rate, which would help the Red Sox's offense slash its strikeout numbers and lengthen their lineup.
Red Sox eyeing Ryan O'Hearn and Yandy Díaz as potential first base trade options
Díaz and O'Hearn are both particularly intriguing trade candidates for Boston due to the options on their contracts in 2026 — Díaz has a conditional club option for next season. The Red Sox are as desperate for first base depth as they are because of Triston Casas' early season-ending injury, from which he's eventually expected back.
But according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the Red Sox aren't confident that Casas will be back and ready to be a starter by Opening Day. His injury, a ruptured left patellar tendon, doesn't carry an easy timeline for recovery, and it could take over a year before he's ready to get back into action. Casas hurt his knee in the first week of May.
Casas also didn't get off to the best start in 2025. He batted .182/.277/.303 through 29 games, which is a small sample size, but trading for Díaz would give them some certainty at the corner to open the 2026 season.
Buster Olney of ESPN listed Díaz as a "perfect" fit for Boston, and the extra year of control on his contract is just icing on the cake. If the Red Sox are serious about competing in the second half and into next season, he should be their top offensive priority.