The Boston Red Sox have a recent history of making trades with the New York Yankees, their longtime rival they didn't often swap with in the past. Fortunately for Boston, it also has a recent history of winning the trades.
The Red Sox have turned Garrett Whitlock into a late-inning machine, Alex Verdugo didn't pan out for New York, Richard Fitts was a solid rotation depth option until Boston spun him to the St. Louis Cardinals for Sonny Gray, and Carlos Narváez has grown into the Sox's everyday catcher in just one season. But the Yankees may finally have a winning trade of their own.
The Red Sox sent current No. 3 Yankees prospect (per MLB Pipeline) Elmer Rodriguez to New York as its return in the Narváez trade. Boston drafted Rodriguez (he formerly went by Rodriguez-Cruz) in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB Draft and he was never a top prospect there, but he's emerged as an elite arm in the Yankees' system.
Rodriguez on February 20 made his spring training debut and tossed three scoreless innings with one strikeout over 42 pitches. He boasts a five-pitch arsenal, which Yankees catcher Austin Wells said he "mixed... really well" (via Brian Hoch of MLB.com).
Former Red Sox, current Yankees prospect Elmer Rodriguez's success could help fuel Carlos Narváez in Boston
3 scoreless innings for top RHP prospect Elmer Rodríguez in his Spring Training debut 🔥@NYYPlayerDev pic.twitter.com/wN4awXs81s
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 20, 2026
Rodriguez began last season in High-A and worked all the way up to a cup of coffee with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He posted a 2.58 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, 176 strikeouts, 57 walks and a .192 opponent batting average over 150 innings across all three levels. He only made one start in Triple-A and allowed four runs on eight hits, but one start isn't enough to reach any conclusions about his capabilities at the level.
Narváez had a solid first season as the Red Sox's primary catcher, to the tune of a .241/.306/.419 slash line and upper-quartile numbers in caught stealing above average, framing, blocking and pop time over 118 games. He did so with an injured knee that really began catching up to him in the second half — a healthy Narváez could keep the Red Sox on the winning side of their latest trade with the Yankees.
Narváez had surgery to repair his injured knee and now he has longtime catcher, three-time All-Star and World Series champion Willson Contreras to mentor him in his sophomore season. Rodriguez still has growing to do before he can help the Yankees in the big leagues, but Narváez is well on his way to becoming a staple on the Sox's roster for years. Maybe Rodriguez's emergence as a star will help push both of them harder.