Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said, heading into last weekâs Winter Meetings, that he hoped to add a power bat to the middle of the Red Sox order. But, reportedly, the Red Sox were halfhearted in their pursuit of former Mets first baseman Pete Alonso â making the 264-career-home-run hitter an offer significantly lower than the one he ultimately took from the Baltimore Orioles.
Breslow also, according to reports, made no offer at all to the other big bat on the market, Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber.
Where does that leave Boston? The club has been linked to a trade for the best-hitting second baseman in baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacksâ Ketel Marte, but nothing has come of it so far. At this point it appears that the Red Sox will be placing their faith in 2018 first-round draft pick Triston Casas, who placed third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting in 2023, but has managed to play in just 92 games over the next two seasons thanks to injuries.
But one MLB analyst last week came up with a new idea for a trade that could bring a potentially powerful bat to Boston at a low financial cost and seven more years of team control. The price in prospect assets to obtain the mid-order slugger could be significant, however.
Proposed Deal Brings in Top-15 Prospect
The target of the deal proposed by Fansided analyst Christopher Kline would be the No. 12-ranked prospect in baseball â who is also ranked first overall in the San Francisco Giants farm system â 21-year-old Bryce Eldridge.
The Giants made Eldridge the 16th overall draft pick in 2023, and at the time entertained the possibility that the Fairfax, Virginia, native could continue to be a two-way player, as he was in high school, whose fastball was clocked at 97 mph. As a teenager, Eldridge even earned the nickname âthe American Ohtaniâ for his dual mound and plate prowess.
As a professional, however, the physically imposing â 6-foot-7, 240-pound â Eldridge has focused on hitting and playing first base â a position of need for the Red Sox unless they decide to gamble that Casas can make it through a season without further serious injury.
In three minor league seasons, rising up to the Triple-A level, Eldridge has compiled an .873 OPS with 54 home runs in 939 at-bats.
What Would Giants Want in Trade?
Eldridgeâs path to the majors in San Francisco, ironically enough, is largely blocked by Rafael Devers, whom the Giants acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Red Sox in June. So, according to Kline, âif the San Francisco Giants decide to trade Bryce Eldridge, their No. 1 prospect and a supremely talented offensive first baseman, the Boston Red Sox make the most sense. Heâd do an admirable job of plugging the hole left by Rafael Devers.â
Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey has expressed reluctance to part with Eldridge, whom he sees as âone of the biggest impact bats for the next 10 to 15 years in the big leagues,â as quoted by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
According to Kline, the Giants would want to dip into Bostonâs wealth of pitching prospects. The leading candidate would almost certainly be 23-year-old left-hander Connelly Early, another Virginia player who started four games for the Red Sox at the big-league level in 2025 â plus a fifth in the third and deciding game of the AL Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees.
In his regular-season starts, Early posted an impressive 2.33 ERA in 19 1/3 innings with 29 strikeouts against just four walks. Like Eldridge, however, his MLB experience was so limited that he remains a rookie for the 2026 season.
Whether Early alone would be enough to dislodge Eldridge from the Giants remains an open question, and it may be the additional piece of any trade package that could prove to be the main obstacle to the proposed deal.
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