It\u2019s that time of year. Trade season, silly season, take your pick. The Rafael Devers blockbuster is probably the biggest deal that will go down, but the temptation is there to ponder other earthshaking possibilities, no matter how remote.<\/p>\n
The possibility of the Boston Red Sox trading third baseman Alex Bregman is remote. So remote, you\u2019d sooner see a certain 5-foot-4 reporter in a bow tie dunking on the 7-foot-3 Victor Wembanyama.<\/p>\n
Bregman\u2019s name, though, keeps appearing in various deadline previews. As wishful thinking goes, it\u2019s right there with the Colorado Rockies avoiding, I don\u2019t know, 120 losses.<\/p>\n
For the Red Sox, trading Bregman makes no sense, even if they cannot sign him to an extension before the deadline, even if they stumble while facing a difficult schedule over the next three weeks.<\/p>\n
The Sox are trying to make the playoffs. They are in strong position after winning their seventh straight game Thursday night, one game ahead of the Seattle Mariners for the third wild-card spot, five games behind Toronto in the AL East. Bregman\u2019s expected return from a right quad strain this weekend should only enhance their chances.<\/p>\n
As The Athletic\u2019s Jen McCaffrey writes<\/a>, Bregman is a leader who influenced teammates, individually and collectively, even while spending the past 43 games on the injured list. You don\u2019t trade such a player. You sign him long term, and you do it in the offseason, when such business normally takes place.<\/p>\n Finding the appropriate value for Bregman in a trade would be difficult if not impossible. Executives talk all the time about how difficult it is to line up even on minor deals. Bregman\u2019s contract, which gives him the ability to opt in to $40 million salaries in both 2026 and \u201927, would complicate matters considerably.<\/p>\n Perhaps a team would be willing to absorb the $13 million or so left on Bregman\u2019s salary if it believed he would opt out after the season. Taking that risk, though, would be borderline reckless. Bregman, who is coming off the IL without going on a rehabilitation assignment, could suffer a major injury, with a recovery process extending into next season. The acquiring team then would be in the same precarious situation the Red Sox face with Bregman \u2014 the non-zero chance of getting stuck with a physically compromised player for at least one more year at $40 million.<\/p>\n Now try figuring out what a club would give up for Bregman. Even while injured, he was elected by his fellow players to the All-Star team. But as a $13 million rental, he would bring back only so much. True, the Red Sox could kick in money to enhance the return. But to what end?<\/p>\n The Sox have enough prospects. What they need is a No. 2 starter and bullpen help, in addition to Bregman. After saving $255 million in the Devers trade, they need not engage in buy-sell scenarios. They should be buyers, period.<\/p>\n For all the criticism he received for the Devers mess, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow hit on virtually all his offseason additions. Left-hander Garrett Crochet and lefty reliever Aroldis Chapman are All-Stars, and catcher Carlos Narv\u00e1ez also would be a worthy selection.<\/p>\n The one disappointment, righty Walker Buehler, has been somewhat better his last two starts. But imagine the Red Sox adding the best starter they can find in a thin market to Crochet, the resurgent Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello and Hunter Dobbins, who returns from the injured list on Friday.<\/p>\n Maybe outfielder Jarren Duran, who is under club control for three additional seasons, could help them pry loose a starter of comparable service. If not, the Sox can simply press forward with their surplus of quality young position players. Most teams would love to be in their position.<\/p>\n Bregman, in his 10th season, is critical to the equation, both and off the field. His return comes at a perfect time, with the Sox finally rounding into form. Even if they go 5-10 in their final 15 games before the deadline \u2013 doubtful, the way they are rolling \u2013 they likely still will be in contention in a flawed AL.<\/p>\n Anyone waiting for a Bregman trade should also be waiting for me to posterize Wembanyama.<\/p>\n One notion is as preposterous as the other.<\/p>\n How the Braves unraveled<\/p>\n In hindsight, the Atlanta Braves\u2019 offseason looks rather deficient. But so many things have gone wrong, adding another starter, bullpen help and a hitter other than free agent Jurickson Profar might not have salvaged 2025.<\/p>\n Four starting pitchers \u2014 Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo L\u00f3pez and AJ Smith-Shawver \u2014 are on the injured list. Another, Spencer Strider, started the season late coming off major elbow surgery, then missed nearly a month with a strained right hamstring. Closer Raisel Iglesias, without warning, followed his best season with his worst.<\/p>\n Center fielder Michael Harris II entered Thursday with the lowest OPS in the majors. Second baseman Ozzie Albies had the eighth lowest, designated hitter Marcell Ozuna the 10th lowest since June 1. A fourth regular, shortstop Nick Allen, also would be near the bottom if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. But Allen, unlike the others, only is expected to provide elite defense.<\/p>\n Some good things have happened for the Braves \u2014 right-hander Grant Holmes stepping in for Charlie Morton, rookie catcher Drake Baldwin for Travis d\u2019Arnaud, lefty reliever Dylan Lee for A.J. Minter. But on the pitching side in particular, the team needed to be more proactive.<\/p>\n The rationale for allowing Morton to depart as a free agent was that Holmes was out of options and would be difficult to build up as a starter working out of the bullpen. It\u2019s difficult to argue with the choice. Holmes has a 3.44 ERA in 102 innings while earning $770,000, barely above the $760,000 minimum. But Morton, who rebounded from a 10.89 ERA after five starts to produce a 2.76 in his last eight, would have provided necessary depth.<\/p>\n In the bullpen, the Braves knew in November they would be without setup man Joe Jim\u00e9nez probably all season. They lost Minter to free agency. But after making a series of cost-cutting moves early in the offseason<\/a>, they did little to upgrade their bullpen.<\/p>\n Profar, coming off a career-best season at 31, was the Braves\u2019 big expenditure at three years, $42 million. True, the free-agent market for outfielders was thin after Juan Soto, Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez and Tyler O\u2019Neill received the biggest contracts. But four games into his Atlanta career, Profar received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.<\/p>\n What\u2019s done is done. In the final two-plus months, the Braves must decide whether Harris and Albies are still viable offensive players, and if they need to move on from Ozuna as their DH. Harris is signed through 2030. Albies can be retained through a $7 million club option or the Braves can buy him out for $4 million.<\/p>\n With little of value to trade, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos might not accomplish much at the deadline. But he almost certainly will be more aggressive next offseason, knowing most of the Braves\u2019 core players will return, and stinging from all that went wrong in 2025.<\/p>\n Rays roulette<\/p>\n The Tampa Bay Rays entered Thursday holding two selections in Competitive Balance Round A \u2014 Nos. 37 and 42. But they could only trade the 37th pick, since they acquired the 42nd in the Jeffrey Springs\/Jacob Lopez trade with the Athletics. A competitive balance selection can be traded, but only once \u2014 by the team that initially received the pick.<\/p>\n So, No. 37 it was, for Baltimore Orioles right-hander Bryan Baker<\/a>, who on Tuesday allowed two homers and four earned runs to the New York Mets without getting an out. That outing perhaps made the Orioles more willing to part with Baker. And the Rays needed the help.<\/p>\n Entering June 27, the Rays had won 16 of 22 and trailed the New York Yankees in the AL East by only a half-game. That night, they lost to the Orioles 22-8, beginning a run in which they dropped eight of 12, with their bullpen turning into a mess.<\/p>\n Baker, 30, has a 32.5 strikeout rate and 6 percent walk rate, numbers the Rays found appealing. Club officials also were impressed by the advances he made with his changeup this season, and saw him as platoon-neutral going forward.<\/p>\n For a rental reliever, the Rays would not have parted with the 37th pick in the draft. But Baker, through salary arbitration, comes with three additional years of club control. This season he is earning $768,700, barely above the $760,000 minimum salary.<\/p>\n Around the horn<\/p>\n \u2022 The $22 million the Yankees are obligated to pay DJ LeMahieu makes a rental such as Arizona\u2019s Eugenio Su\u00e1rez a more logical fit for them at third base than a player such as St. Louis\u2019 Nolan Arenado or Colorado\u2019s Ryan McMahon, who is signed beyond 2025.<\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez would be owed about $5 million at the deadline. Arenado would be owed more than $10 million this season plus $27 million next season, McMahon about $4 million this season and $16 million in both 2026 and \u201927.<\/p>\n \u2022 Su\u00e1rez, an All-Star for the second time, also makes sense for the Milwaukee Brewers, among other clubs. The Diamondbacks, even if they choose not to be pure sellers, could move Su\u00e1rez to open third for Jordan Lawlar. The Brewers, working off their current surplus of starting pitching, could offer a controllable starter in return.<\/p>\n For such a pitcher, though, the Brewers almost certainly would want more than two months of Su\u00e1rez. And the Diamondbacks, as they face the potential losses of righties Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly in free agency, might at least need to consider such a deal.<\/p>\n \u2022 On the flip side, if the Diamondbacks sell, they are unlikely to trade both Gallen and Kelly, according to sources briefed on their plans. The DBacks already are without Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery. If they subtract both Gallen and Kelly, they might not have enough young pitching to get through the season.<\/p>\n Gallen, trending upward in his last two starts, figures to draw more interest than Kelly. But Kelly, 36, has a 3.77 ERA in 159 career starts, all since he returned from Korea at age 30. And he\u2019s only getting better. In his most recent start against the Padres, he threw four of the five hardest pitches<\/a> of his career.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Kansas City Royals, on an 8-4 roll entering their final series before the break, against the Mets, are an example of how two good weeks can put a team back in contention.<\/p>\n If the Royals buy, their catching depth might help them get the hitter they need. Rival clubs show consistent interest in the Royals\u2019 young catching prospects, according to sources briefed on Kansas City\u2019s discussions.<\/p>\n