With hours to go until the MLB trade deadline, reporters and insiders have heard that the Boston Red Sox are a main player in the shortstop market. But after losing Curtis Mead to a wrist injury in his team debut, the Red Sox should also be in the race for second basemen.
One of the best options came off the table early in the day, when the Philadelphia Phillies traded for Luis Arráez from the San Francisco Giants, first reported by Jeff Passan. The Phillies also landed righty pitcher Caleb Kilian in exchange for pitching prospects Ramon Marquez and Marty Gair.
The Red Sox on July 25 acquired Mead from the Washington Nationals to play second base with the intention of further supplementing the infield around him. Instead, a wrist fracture has taken Mead out of the picture for a few weeks to months, and Arráez would've been a solid replacement for him, though not a perfect one.
Arráez has long been one of the most consistent bats in the game and his tenure with the Giants has been no different. The veteran is slashing .324/.360/.440 with 25 walks to just 21 strikeouts over 105 games this year.
Red Sox miss out on Luis Arráez as middle infield option following Curtis Mead injury as Phillies swoop in
The Red Sox targeted the righty Mead for the pull-side power in his bat. Arráez is left-handed and only carries a .440 slugging percentage, which are likely some of the reasons Boston is looking elsewhere for offensive reinforcements.
Even after their 15-game winning streak and extremely successful month of July, the Red Sox still rank toward the bottom of the league in home runs — they're tied for 25th with the Tampa Bay Rays. They could use more pop than Arráez provides, but the options are slim this year. Zach Neto and Hunter Goodman are going to be expensive.
Arráez has grown into a solid defender at second base, which makes him a fit with the Red Sox's defensive-minded, "run prevention" strategy for the season. He's logged 11 outs above average which ranks in the 98th percentile among second basemen, but he's clocked -2 defensive runs saved.
On August 2, the day before the deadline, there were rumors that the Giants' price for Arráez was sky-high, but the Red Sox easily could've bested the Phillies' package if they wanted to go that route. Marquez was the No. 4 prospect in Philadelphia's farm system, per MLB Pipeline, and Gair is unranked.
With Arráez off the board, Boston's other infield options — Neto, CJ Abrams, Liam Hicks — remain. None of them are rentals, as Arráez is, and they'll be quite pricey.
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