The Boston Red Sox are in a familiar but deeply uncomfortable spot heading into the second half of June, hovering on the wrong side of mediocrity and drawing serious questions about whether Craig Breslow’s front office might be forced into a seller’s role at the July trade deadline.
Boston has not been above .500 since Opening Day, owns just three winning streaks of three games all season, and sits 13.5 games behind the Yankees in the AL East. Even the Wild Card feels like a stretch, with five teams standing between the Sox and the final postseason spot entering Tuesday.
That has turned the spotlight squarely on four players who could draw trade interest, and the questions surrounding each one are not flattering.
The Four Trade Candidates
- Sonny Gray is owed $31 million in 2026 with a $30 million club option for 2027 and a $10 million buyout, making him essentially a pricey rental
- Aroldis Chapman carries a $13 million salary and a mutual option for 2027 that both sides are unlikely to exercise, cementing him as a one-year chip
- Willson Contreras is locked in through 2027 with a club option for 2028, but his reputation preceded him out of St. Louis, and may follow him out of Boston
- Jarren Duran is earning $7.7 million and is arbitration-eligible for two more years, but an offensive slump has badly damaged his leverage
League executives were blunt in their assessments. “You have to treat Sonny and Aroldis as one-year deals, and that’s a big buyout,” one NL executive said. “Would you pay Sonny $20 million for the rest of this year? Aroldis will almost certainly opt out. The Cardinals had a hard time moving Contreras last year; how many teams want that personality on their team at the Deadline? Duran would be a sell-low at this point.”
An AL executive piled on, noting that “Gray’s market will be limited by his salary, Contreras is an acquired taste, Duran is having a down season, and Chapman will be a rental reliever.”
Breslow will likely wait until late July before making a definitive buy-or-sell call, but if the offense, ranked last in the AL in runs scored and on-base percentage, doesn’t turn around fast, those brutal trade questions will only get louder.
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