For the first time since he took over at the helm of the Boston Red Sox organization, Craig Breslow accomplished most of his trade deadline objectives. It took some massive moves to do so — former top prospect Marcelo Mayer went to the San Francisco Giants for Erik Miller, four top prospects and more went to the Baltimore Orioles for Adley Rutschman and Boston shipped rookie starter Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for slugging infielder Curtis Mead.
But a very different Early deal nearly happened before the deadline. Sources have told Pat Ragazzo of FanSided that the Chicago Cubs, who desperately needed starting pitching, were interested in trading for Early.
The Cubs ended up with starters Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman instead and they're better for it, at least for now. Early left Boston on the injured list with elbow inflammation and he remains there with under a month of the season remaining. He still hasn't debuted with the Nationals, but according to Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic, they're targeting September 8 as the start of his rehab assignment (subscription required).
The Cubs and Nats being the two main suitors for Early isn't surprising. Red Sox chief baseball officer Breslow has connections in both front offices — he worked in multiple front office roles under Theo Epstein in Chicago and former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni took the president of baseball operations job in Washington before the 2026 season. It was later reported that Breslow hoped to promote him to general manager in Boston.
The Cubs were interested in trading for Connelly Early before Red Sox sent him to Nationals for Curtis Mead
The Red Sox's return for Early is possibly why they went with the Nats as their suitor instead of the Cubs. Mead is a right-handed, controllable infielder (under contract until after the 2030 season) with pull side power, which plays well at Fenway Park.
Chicago might not have had a similar player to offer, especially if it hoped to hold onto Matt Shaw. The utility player also doesn't have the power Mead does, and the Red Sox are still desperate for all he slug they can get.
Despite Early's early success with Boston (3.44 ERA, 1.25 WHIP over 91.2 innings), the Cubs were better off pursuing other pitchers due to the rookie's injury. There's a chance neither Early nor Mead plays again this season, which would be a disappointing outcome for both teams involved in the trade, but the years of control on their respective contracts means they could be staples in the lineups for seasons to come.
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