Something curious is happening and I can’t quite figure out why. Ever since the World Series ended, there’s been a new source of smoke almost every day about the Red Sox trading for a shortstop. As best I can tell, it started on the morning of Halloween, when Rob Bradford made this post:
Two days later, Chris Cotillo of MassLive included an Elly De La Cruz trade in his list of bold Red Sox offseason predictions.
Then the following day, Jim Bowden — who should always be taken with a grain of salt — added CJ Abrams to the list of Red Sox trade targets along with doubling down on the De La Cruz rumors.
Now in the last 36 hours, there’s also been rumblings of the Otto Lopez rumors. Yesterday on the Felger & Mazz program, Jimmy Stewart even said he would prefer Lopez to De La Cruz because De La Cruz is “more sizzle than steak.”
This isn’t the first time the Red Sox have been connected to Lopez either. Back at the deadline, Jeff Passan even floated a deal that centered around Lopez and Liam Hicks from the Marlins before the Sox eventually landed on Adley Rutschman.
But as we’ve been learning recently, the Marlins don’t seem interested in playing ball here, so we’ll have to wait and see if this part of the conversation has any sticking power.
Anyway, while we’re waiting, I’d like to suggest a name I’d be interested in seeing as the new Red Sox shortstop going forward: Franklin Arias. (My sources indicate that Worcester is willing to move him for pennies compared to any of the trade packages involving De La Cruz, Abrams, or Lopez from Cincinnati, Washington, or Miami.)
But seriously, why are the majority of the Red Sox rumors out of the offseason gate centered around shortstop?
I understand why this was the case in July: Arias wasn’t ready for a postseason run in 2026, question marks surrounded Trevor Story’s return (something I got wrong), and Andruw Monasterio can’t hack it defensively at short. So yeah, given what we thought the Red Sox might be able to do in October off the back of their summer scorcher, it made sense to go nuts at the time.
But now that 2026 is over and our eyes are centered on whenever baseball returns in 2027 (or beyond), why is Franklin Arias not the plan moving forward? He’s the No. 2 prospect in the sport! And just to be clear here, we’re not talking within the Red Sox system, we’re talking among all 30 teams in baseball. He is, BY FAR the best thing the Red Sox have going down on the farm right now (their only other guy in the top 100 is Justin Gonzales, who’s only played 18 games above High-A and ranks No. 71).
And furthermore, I don’t think people truly appreciate how far Arias is tracking ahead of where Marcelo Mayer was in recent seasons. In Double-A Portland, Arias posted a .952 OPS in 380 plate appearances (many in horrible, wintry, early season conditions). Mayer meanwhile put up a .763 OPS in 524 plate appearances in Portland.
In Worcester, it appears a little bit closer (Arias has an .894 OPS there to Mayer’s .835) until you take into account that Arias achieved that line a full two years young than Mayer (his age 20 season compared to Mayer’s age 22). And also, by all accounts, the defense isn’t close either. Arias is far superior, and even won the minor league gold glove award just 72 hours ago.
So I guess my question is: Why isn’t Arias being hyped as the shortstop of the future? Did the Mayer experience just burn people to such a degree they now think Arias will turn out the same way because he plays the same position and that Roman Anthony will have the same personality because they were friends? I can’t believe I’m saying this, because the opposite is true 99 percent of the time, but I feel like this fan base is now underrating our potential future stars.
Franklin Arias turns 21 later this month. Roman Anthony will still be just 22 on Opening Day (if Opening Day happens on time), and the Red Sox control each of them for at least the next six ( and probably more) season at a reasonable price. Why isn’t this being hyped as the future or “the A-Team” if you want to get cute?
According to these trade rumors, the Red Sox need a shortstop and a big bat. Except for the fact, they may already have these things — Cost controlled, young, and with the ability to get better. Franklin Arias is already a better defensive shortstop right now than De La Cruz will ever be — And despite a disappointing 2026, Roman Anthony already has a higher career OPS than De La Cruz at the major league level, and is two years younger.
So, I have to wonder, what are we even doing here? Yes, we want power, but the last three teams standing in the MLB postseason this year ranked 22nd (Rays), 27th (Guardians) and tied for 28th / 29th (Brewers) in home runs. Other than Junior Caminero, who went deep 42 times, not a single other player on any of those teams hit more than 26 home runs for them.
The Red Sox meanwhile ranked 26th in home runs this year. They fit right in. So while I understand and support the idea of more power in the lineup, I don’t think it needs to come from shortstop. Also, there’s no way in hell I’d give up on Anthony at this stage of his career. (The injuries scare me, but the idea of him becoming a cornerstone franchise player somewhere else scares me even more.)
But despite my feelings on the issue, these rumors aren’t coming from nowhere, so I have to wonder what’s going on. Are the Red Sox about to give up on a promising future mere moments before it’s about to pay dividends? That’s what these rumors in recent days seem to suggest. If that happens, and either of these guys pan out elsewhere, I might have a meltdown! There’s nothing worse than waiting years for something potentially great and then bailing on it last minute as gold rains from the sky. I hope these rumors are just that — Rumors. Because if they get this wrong, the Red Sox future we’ve all been dreaming of could quickly turn into a nightmare.
