AL East team mentioned as a Cardinals' trade partner in hypothetical trade

With Juan Soto finding a new home in New York with a record contract, a number of other key players are seeing their names floated in rumors as teams meet in Dallas during the Winter Meetings. Even prior to this annual event, the St. Louis Cardinals have been at the forefront of many rumors surrounding big names, most often Nolan Arenado.

One team has been seen as a fit, going as far as Jake Peavy offering a hypothetical trade on MLB Network.

Shoutout to colleague Adam Weinrib, who shared the hypothetical trade with the Boston Red Sox. The trade would send superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado to Boston in a four-player deal, with RHP Richard Fitts, OF Miguel Bleis, and OF/DH Masataka Yoshida coming back to the Cardinals. Initial reports out of Boston have been sharing that the Red Sox have been in preliminary discussions with St. Louis.

A trade to Boston is an interesting fit, as the Red Sox had initially been rumored to attempt moving the All-Star third baseman across the diamond, opening up the opportunity for Arenado to jump in. Since then, the Red Sox have downplayed the shift, but Arenado's apparent willingness to play first still makes him a potential target.

What would Arenado fetch in a deal with Boston?

The hypothetical trade comes from former MLB pitcher Jake Peavy during a segment on MLB Network. Arenado, assuming he waives his no-trade clause, would be the only piece headed to Boston which sets the stage for a bad contract swap as seen with the inclusion of OF/DH Masataka Yoshida. Each player is slated to become a free agent after the 2027 season with both of them slated to cost their current team over $50 million for their remaining deals.

Yoshida came to the United States from Japan. on a five-year deal with the hopes of providing the Red Sox with a middle-of-the-order bat who tallies a high OPS and low strikeout rate. His time in Boston has been considered a disappointment, despite a rookie year where the lefty received some down-ballot votes in the Rookie of the Year award voting.

While fine offensively, his career .775 OPS and 111 OPS+ shows how his power has not translated to the Major League game enough to offset his defensive limitation. Yoshida's rookie year is also the last time he played in a game defensively, and his numbers were not great in those 86 games. Injuries and defensive concerns limited Yoshida to a platoon-DH role, with over 75% of his at-bats coming against right-handed pitching.

Another piece in the rumored trade is 24-year-old righty, Richard Fitts. Fitts was a sixth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2021 and after a solid run in AAA, received his major league call-up this past season. He ranked as the organization's 17th-ranked prospect with Fangraphs ranking each of his fastball and slider as above-average offerings. In his four starts with Boston this season, Fitts threw 20 innings with concerning results as he totaled only nine strikeouts to go with seven walks after demonstrating strong command in the minors.

The final name comes from 20-year-old outfielder Miguel Bleis. MLB.com ranks the 2021 international signee as Boston's #8 prospect with a major league ETA of 2026. In Bleis' four seasons in the professional ranks, he has reached A+ and shown above-average speed with some raw power potential. The righty reached his career high in home runs with 11 to go along with 38 stolen bases. A knock against Bleis has been his contact and patience but he improved on each of those during the 2024 campaign.

Amid all of the rumors, it is good to see some value attached to Nolan Arenado, despite there being a smaller market than anticipated. This return could actually provide more future assets than recent news has led the public to believe. With the Winter Meetings ending in a couple of days, it will be interesting to see if Arenado remains with the Cardinals as the top brass leaves Dallas.