The Boston Red Sox have one of the very best prospects in baseball in 20-year-old infielder Franklin Arias. While this is the case, it sounds like Boston at least considered the possibility of trading him away ahead of the 2026 Major League Baseball trade deadline.
Before the deadline, a handful of big-name trade candidates were linked to Boston, including Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto and Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena. While Boston did make a splash by going out and acquiring Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles, the organization didn't acquire another shortstop. At the time, shortstop trade candidates were mentioned, but there wasn't a lot said about Arias. On Tuesday, The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey shared in a column that the idea of "selling high" on Arias at least was considered at the time, but Boston opted against it.
"At the trade deadline this past summer, the Red Sox, according to league sources, explored the possibility of selling high and trading Arias for a young, controllable shortstop as a way to bolster their 2026 roster for the postseason," McCaffrey wrote. "They opted to keep Arias, suggesting how highly they value him."
High Hopes For Franklin Arias
If you're a Red Sox fan, this is the type of report that actually should make you very excited about what Arias can do. Neto was the shortstop most connected to Boston ahead of the deadline. At the time, Tim Healey of The Boston Globe reported that the Angels wanted a package headlined by Arias, plus other prospects. The fact that Boston at least thought about moving Arias shows that it didn't initially close any doors, but didn't think that Neto was worth the package that Los Angeles wanted.
Neto is 25 years old and has three straight seasons under his belt in which he finished with at least 5.1 wins above replacement. In 2026, he finished 28th in baseball with 5.2 wins above replacement, which was just behind Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians and ahead of guys like Michael Harris II, Pete Alonso, Corbin Carroll, Jackson Chourio, Chase Burns, Cody Bellinger, Willson Contreras, Tarik Skubal, Sonny Gray, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mookie Betts, among many others. Neto is an elite player.
The fact that Boston viewed Arias as the type of piece to keep, rather than flipping him this past summer shows just how highly the club views him. Arias didn't make his big league debut in 2026, but his time is coming. He hit 25 home runs, drove in 91 runs and slashed .323/.400/.557 in 117 games across Double-A and Triple-A.
If the Red Sox had flipped Arias this past summer, they could've gotten some big-name talent in return. Instead, Boston opted to keep its top prospect. If he can live up to his lofty potential, this will be for the best.
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