Second Base Trade Market Leaves Red Sox With One Long-Term Hope

[Brandon Glick]

Right off the bat, I'll note that the player I'm focusing on in this piece isn't necessarily available. He hasn't been mentioned in many (if any) trade rumors, and it'd be a miracle to pry him loose from the Cleveland Guardians.

But can you blame me for having to dig a little deeper here? The second base market is completely dry in free agency (Jose Iglesias is the top option remaining), Ketel Marte has been taken off the block, Nico Hoerner and Brendan Donovan are going to cost a fortune in a trade and don't have much team control remaining, and the Boston Red Sox's internal options are better suited for other positions (Marcelo Mayer), roles (Romy Gonzalez), or need more time to develop altogether (Mikey Romero, Franklin Arias). Insofar as an external upgrade at second base is coming, prepare to be uninspired by Craig Breslow's choice.

Unless, of course, he gets really creative. I'm talking A.J. Preller levels of daring, which is completely antithetical and perhaps a polar opposite to the way Breslow operates. The reasons to do something like this are already limited, and they shrink even further if you believe the Red Sox can pair Gonzalez with an able-bodied platoon partner at the keystone.

And so, with all that hedging out of the way: Let's trade for Travis Bazzana. Seriously. The Red Sox should trade for the No. 1 overall pick from the 2024 MLB Draft.

Of course, such a trade would be easier said than done. He's a 23-year-old middle infielder who ascended to Triple-A in his first full professional season while working a 137 wRC+ and 17.6% walk rate. The Guardians ranked 28th in scoring in 2025 and desperately need a bat of his caliber to upgrade the lineup. For more on Bazzana, take this analysis on his prospect profile from Baseball Savant:

Quote

"Bazzana has a compact left-handed swing with quality bat speed and makes excellent swing decisions, leaving him with no obvious weakness at the plate. He rarely chases, makes contact with ease while generating upper-echelon exit velocities and produces against lefties and righties and all types of pitches. His exceptional bat-to-ball skills overshadow his plus raw power, and he gets to most of it while displaying the ability to drive the ball out of the park to the opposite field."

Suffice it to say, he's got the goods.

But, like all prospects, he's not without his flaws. Injury issues have plagued him since college, including a lingering oblique injury that landed him on the injured list twice and limited him to just 84 games in 2025. He also started to display some worrying strikeout tendencies as he climbed the minor-league ladder, finishing the season with a 24.3% punch-out rate. There's enough additive concerns that he's been falling down some top prospect lists, with The Athletic's Keith Law even going so far as to suggest that Bazzana "may not be the impact player [the Guardians] expected" when they drafted him.

Are those yellow flags enough to loosen Cleveland's grip on him? Maybe. The Guardians have done literally nothing this offseason to add to their offense (which, again, ranked 28th in runs scored last year). Their most-important contributor by a country mile, José Ramirez, will be playing out his age-33 season in 2026. And the team is already banking a lot of their hopes on the continued development of 25-year-old Kyle Manzardo and top prospect Chase DeLauter. There may not be a huge appetite to rely on yet another unproven youngster in Bazzana if an MLB-proven contributor presents themselves as an alternative.

And that's where the Red Sox come in. The Guardians' outfield is currently comprised of Steven Kwan, George Valera, and DeLauter, but their designated hitter spot is wide open, and none of those players are quite the offensive threats that Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu are when they're on. Could one of those two (plus perhaps a veteran pitcher like Patrick Sandoval or Kutter Crawford) stir up some conversations in Cleveland?

The Guardians are a win-now team — they've won three of the past four AL Central titles — as are the Red Sox. They aren't traditional trade partners by any means. A lot of concessions would need to be made by both sides in order to strike a deal of this magnitude. The Red Sox would need to accept more risk than they have in all of their other offseason trades combined, and the Guardians would need to accept the optics of punting on a No. 1 overall pick less than two years after taking him. There are serious long-term downsides for both franchises present in this deal.

But when you have a wide-open roster hole at second base and your best option to fill it is 36-year-old Jose Iglesias, risk becomes inherent in seeking upgrades. Few options are as risky as Travis Bazzana, but none of them present nearly as much upside.

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[JoeBrady]

This is one of the more interesting recommendations. 

• It just seems like a tough fit to interest someone in a player that is definitely an improvement to their OF/DH, but maybe not a perfect fit. 
• Does Bazzana have enough minor ABs to be ready for the pros?  This could be KC Act II.
• As always, Bazzana is a lefty.
• And finally, how often does a team trade a 1/1, unless they are a complete flop?  Moniak was the only one I could find, and he had 5 minor league seasons by that the time he was traded.

That said, if Bazzana needs 2 months of AAA, starting DHam in a platoon won't hurt us.  And so long as we can make a good deal, the fact he is a lefty won't bother me much.  Good article.