As summer sets in and the halfway point of the season looms, the Boston Red Sox have seemingly cemented themselves as a bottom team in the American League. The offense's early struggles have not subsided and they'll be the deciding factor in Boston's planning before the trade deadline.
Other teams around the league and baseball writers alike appear to see the Sox as sellers. While the team is largely young and under control or the forseeable future, they have a few attractive pieces they could ship to contenders at the deadline, such as Sonny Gray, Aroldis Chapman and maybe even Jarren Duran.
Some publications also have their eye on Willson Contreras as a potential trade deadline mover. While he's in the midst of a career year and could certainly help any team that needs right-handed reinforcements with some power or a skilled first baseman, under no circumstances should Boston let him go this year.
Contreras would be an attractive deadline addition for many of the teams in the race, meaning the Red Sox could get quite a return for him. But Boston is in the throes of its competitive window with Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela and others locked up for the long-term, so a prospect-heavy return package is far less useful than an elite first baseman.
Willson Contreras should be among the Red Sox's untouchable players ahead of the trade deadline
The Red Sox haven't had a first baseman of Contreras' all-around skill level for years and Sox fans everywhere will agree that it's been a relief to have someone to rely on at the corner. They also don't have many promising first base prospects approaching the higher levels of the farm system, so no internal help is coming if they give Contreras up
As much potential as Triston Casas may have, he hasn't shown that he can stay healthy enough to be reliable as an everyday player. Having Contreras around for at least another year would give Casas someone to model his game after. Contreras is batting .284/.381/.516 with nine doubles, two triples and a team-leading 13 home runs over 64 games. He's logged 77th percentile range and one out above average.
Contreras has two years of control remaining on his contract after 2026, including a club option for 2028. He'd be a useful weapon on future Sox teams, when Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Caleb Durbin adapt to the big leagues and the front office hopefully supplements the offense with a true righty power bat. The Red Sox shouldn't give him up so quickly when their first base talent has been lacking for so long.
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