Hours after the New England Patriots officially passed the torch over to baseball season, the Boston Red Sox made the final move to complete their lineup. One day before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, they finally found an infielder.
The Red Sox have traded with the Milwaukee Brewers to land third baseman Caleb Durbin, according to MLB insider Jeff Passan of ESPN. Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that Boston is sending pitcher Kyle Harrison, as well as David Hamilton and Shane Drohan to Milwaukee and it will also get infielder Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler and a Competitive Balance Round B pick in the upcoming MLB Draft.
Reports that the Red Sox checked in on Durbin emerged the morning of the trade as other talks seemed to be escalating around the league (subscription required). Boston had been in talks with the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs for Isaac Paredes and Matt Shaw and Nico Hoerner, respectively, but the sides clearly had trouble matching up for a deal, as discussions lingered for weeks.
With Harrison's departure, the Red Sox have unloaded yet another piece of the disastrous Rafael Devers trade. They shipped their top prospect in the deal, outfielder James Tibbs III, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dustin May at the 2025 Trade Deadline, they salary dumped Jordan Hicks to the Chicago White Sox last week and Harrison's move to the Midwest leaves them with just pitching prospect Jose Bello in their return package from the San Francisco Giants.
Red Sox trade for Brewers infielder Caleb Durbin to complete roster and offload Kyle Harrison, another piece from the Rafael Devers trade
Durbin, who turns 26 at the end of February, batted .256/.334/.387 with a .721 OPS with 25 doubles, 11 homers and 53 RBI over 136 games last season. He has great plate discipline, striking out 50 times, walking 30 and clocking 96 and 98th whiff and strikeout percentages, respectively. He logged near-perfectly average defense in the 51st percentile and finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Adding Durbin still doesn't address the power outage in the Sox's lineup (16th percentile xSLG, 4th percentile average exit velo). But with other trade talks lagging and desperation setting in, they had to make a choice, and league-average defense was it.
Boston has previously reported that it prefers Marcelo Mayer to play third base this coming season, but the addition of Durbin could force him back to the middle infield.
Durbin is a solid get for a team that sacrificed its franchise third baseman just months before. He's a contact hitter, a quick runner, a solid defender and under contract until 2031. The Red Sox needed a spark after losing two World Series champions in the same year, and they got him for quite a nice price.