Boston Red Sox Took "Several Tries" To Obtain Zach Neto From Angels

[Matthew Lenz]

Before acquiring Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, and a comp B pick, the Boston Red Sox had their sights set on a different player to fill their infield needs.

Sean McAdam of MassLive wrote the following: "With Marte off the market, the Red Sox, according to an industry source, took several tries at obtaining Zach Neto from the Los Angeles Angels". He added that "Neto could have moved [off shortstop] to either second or third for the time being until Trevor Story’s deal was up." However, the Halos "set a very high bar" to acquire Neto.

Neto, 25, played 128 games in 2025, carrying a .793 OPS with 26 home runs and swiping 26 bags. In two plus years in the big leagues, Neto has now posted a 115 wRC+ or better in back-to-back seasons. However, his -6 Outs Above Average indicates that shortstop may not be his best position long term, but that the hot corner or keystone, in fact, are better defensive spots for the righty. 

Do you think the Red Sox made the right move in acquiring Durbin instead of giving up what it took for Neto? Let us know in the comments!

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[mvp 78]

Neto would be a fun watch at Fenway (RH pull power), but this lineup really needs some guys who aren't above a 25% k rate. Neto's glove is probably a better fit for 2b than SS. 

If the bar was truly high from the Angels, it's a pass from me.  

[moonslav59]

It does depend on who they wanted, but this guys has some power and should gain more as he ages.

At age 24, he was at a 650 PA HR rate of about 30.

He had some serious mixed defensive metrics:

Last 2 seasons:

DRS +11 and +13

dWAR: 2.1 and 2.2

but OAA: -6 and -8

This was one guy I don't recall any of us mentioning in suggested trade talks.

[JoeBrady]

A bridge too far for sure.  The Angels will probably be bottom-5, so they'd want all prospects.  We just don't have enough.  I admire Breslow's aim though.

[mvp 78]

Makes a lot of sense that Breslow took the third fork in the road that wasn't mentioned in every freaking MLB Trade Rumors article for a month. A quiet Durbin or Neto deal is more in line with how Breslow has handled business than the out in the open Hoerner/Shaw and Paredes deals that we've been talking about for a while now. 

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Makes a lot of sense that Breslow took the third fork in the road that wasn't mentioned in every freaking MLB Trade Rumors article for a month. A quiet Durbin or Neto deal is more in line with how Breslow has handled business than the out in the open Hoerner/Shaw and Paredes deals that we've been talking about for a while now. 

Also taking the cheapest option is in line with how Breslow has handled business.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

A bridge too far for sure.  The Angels will probably be bottom-5, so they'd want all prospects.  We just don't have enough.  I admire Breslow's aim though.

We have enough, but either they wanted too much or Brez was to stingy or just values his prospects highly (maybe not too highly.)

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Also taking the cheapest option is in line with how Breslow has handled business.

Nieto is making $4M in his first arb year, and while that is more than Durbin, it's less than we paid I K-F.

If by "cheaper," we mean more prospects needed to get him, that is true, but some "suspects" are worth holding onto.

I'm guessing it's about what the Angels wanted in return vs the return he needed to part with to get Durbin, depth and a comp pick.

Brez already parted with a lot of prospects and younger players to get Gray, Contreras & Oviedo. He might have felt he didn't want to overdue using the farm.

That being said, I would have really liked seeing us get Nieto, but not knowing who they wanted makes it hard to judge this.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That being said, I would have really liked seeing us get Nieto, but not knowing who they wanted makes it hard to judge this.

If they can't extend Nieto afterwards, what's the point? A lot of moving parts TBH. 

[Old Red]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they can't extend Nieto afterwards, what's the point? A lot of moving parts TBH. 

Wouldn’t he have 4 years of control? Of course that $4M would get higher every year. Sounds like the Red Sox really wanted him though.

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they can't extend Nieto afterwards, what's the point? A lot of moving parts TBH. 

Ummm 4 arb years (ages 25-28)

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Ummm 4 arb years (ages 25-28)

Giving up a boatload of prospects for him (which is what it apparently would have taken) just doesn't make sense to me. He was less than 1 fWAR better than Durbin for less control and a substantially higher cost. 

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Giving up a boatload of prospects for him (which is what it apparently would have taken) just doesn't make sense to me. He was less than 1 fWAR better than Durbin for less control and a substantially higher cost. 

It wouldn't make sense to me, either, but I'd like to know who were on said boat.

[notin]

3 hours ago, Old Red said:

Also taking the cheapest option is in line with how Breslow has handled business.

So… Complaint B…

[notin]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Giving up a boatload of prospects for him (which is what it apparently would have taken) just doesn't make sense to me. He was less than 1 fWAR better than Durbin for less control and a substantially higher cost. 

Plus his name is Zack and he doesn’t pitch.  Is that even allowed?

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

Plus his name is Zack and he doesn’t pitch.  Is that even allowed?

Mr McKinstry on line 2 for you, sir. 

[mvp 78]

I have Mr Gelof on hold as well. I can probably hang up on him, right? 

[moonslav59]

Neto hit HRs at about 30 per 650, last year. 30 SBs, too.

The .319 OBP was not good. The K's were not good. 

At 24, there is a lot of room for growth.

Oh well. I gotta admit, it's getting very tiring hearing about how close we came to this guy and that guy. It's worse than hearing we missed by a mile on guys like Alonso.

If the Halos wanted Tolle, Valera and Arias or Witherspoon, I can understand moving onto Durbin, who looks like a steal at this point, but we needed a power bat and an infielder and we missed out on KMarte, Paredes and Neto.

[vjcsmoke]

13 hours ago, Old Red said:

Also taking the cheapest option is in line with how Breslow has handled business.

Correct. I think the best part of the deal from the Red Sox front office perspective is that Durbin will be cheap and cost controlled for a long time.

Neto would have cost more prospects and with his potential to become a 30/30 threat would have cost even more money to retain.

Red Sox were far more inclined to take the cheaper option.

That's not saying Durbin doesn't have some upside left. He's only 25 and posted a 2.8 WAR in his rookie season.

If he improves his offense to major league average for the position and keeps playing at a high level on defense he will be a major league level starter for 3B at a very cheap price for quite a few years. That's not a bad get. I think before the offseason started, you'd be happy to get a guy who could average around 3.0 WAR per season to play 3B for us.

Neto has a higher offensive upside and would have been a nice get but we just don't know the asking price.

[Old Red]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Neto hit HRs at about 30 per 650, last year. 30 SBs, too.

The .319 OBP was not good. The K's were not good. 

At 24, there is a lot of room for growth.

Oh well. I gotta admit, it's getting very tiring hearing about how close we came to this guy and that guy. It's worse than hearing we missed by a mile on guys like Alonso.

If the Halos wanted Tolle, Valera and Arias or Witherspoon, I can understand moving onto Durbin, who looks like a steal at this point, but we needed a power bat and an infielder and we missed out on KMarte, Paredes and Neto.

As I keep saying after the Red Sox settle once again that everything may work out alright, but once again the Red Sox who took several swings at trading for Neto according to McAdams did not get someone they really wanted. No we don’t know the Angels asking price, so it doesn’t matter now. This gives some another comparison during the season between Durbin, and Neto.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

As I keep saying after the Red Sox settle once again that everything may work out alright, but once again the Red Sox who took several swings at trading for Neto according to McAdams did not get someone they really wanted. No we don’t know the Angels asking price, so it doesn’t matter now. This gives some another comparison during the season between Durbin, and Neto.

Reports in most of these deals that didn't happen is that the other club wanted a package headlined by Mayer.

We don't know if he's going to be a star or ever healthy enough to play a whole season, but trading a presumed starting infielder for a more established name basically defeats the purpose of fixing a hole where the rain gets in. 

Durbin cost spare parts. I won't ever compare him to Neto or Marte, but I might compare him to IKF, depending on who plays where.

[davidrw]

Not surprised at all teams don’t just hand over a young, controllable shortstop, so several tries sounds like the Angels kept raising the price. I’m glad Boston at least pushed on it, because it shows they’re trying to upgrade the infield without settling for a half measure.

[mvp 78]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Neto hit HRs at about 30 per 650, last year. 30 SBs, too.

The .319 OBP was not good. The K's were not good. 

At 24, there is a lot of room for growth.

Oh well. I gotta admit, it's getting very tiring hearing about how close we came to this guy and that guy. It's worse than hearing we missed by a mile on guys like Alonso.

If the Halos wanted Tolle, Valera and Arias or Witherspoon, I can understand moving onto Durbin, who looks like a steal at this point, but we needed a power bat and an infielder and we missed out on KMarte, Paredes and Neto.

Neto is 25. Not all players continue to grow after a certain age. The Angels don't have any other franchise player left. Just because we want him, doesn't mean the Angels were going to give him up for a reasonable package. 

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, davidrw said:

Not surprised at all teams don’t just hand over a young, controllable shortstop, so several tries sounds like the Angels kept raising the price. I’m glad Boston at least pushed on it, because it shows they’re trying to upgrade the infield without settling for a half measure.

Reminiscent of the Joe Ryan trade packages from last year's deadline. Angels may have been in talks with the Sox, but they may have not been serious about it. 

[mvp 78]

33 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Reports in most of these deals that didn't happen is that the other club wanted a package headlined by Mayer.

We don't know if he's going to be a star or ever healthy enough to play a whole season, but trading a presumed starting infielder for a more established name basically defeats the purpose of fixing a hole where the rain gets in. 

Durbin cost spare parts. I won't ever compare him to Neto or Marte, but I might compare him to IKF, depending on who plays where.

Yeah, I'm comparing Durbin to what would have been a Romy/IKF/Hamilton platoon at 2b. I'll take Durbin. 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

As I keep saying after the Red Sox settle once again that everything may work out alright, but once again the Red Sox who took several swings at trading for Neto according to McAdams did not get someone they really wanted. No we don’t know the Angels asking price, so it doesn’t matter now. This gives some another comparison during the season between Durbin, and Neto.

It's not a comparison since we don't know the trade package. If they had to trade Mayer, you'd have to factor Mayer AND Durbin AND Tolle AND whoever else vs Neto. 

[davidrw]

Yeah, it has that same here’s the ask, now the price jumps vibe, where the other team keeps floating big-name returns but never really gets close to a deal. It wouldn’t shock me if the Angels took the calls just to gauge value or nudge other teams, rather than being truly motivated to move him.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

As I keep saying after the Red Sox settle once again that everything may work out alright, but once again the Red Sox who took several swings at trading for Neto according to McAdams did not get someone they really wanted. No we don’t know the Angels asking price, so it doesn’t matter now. This gives some another comparison during the season between Durbin, and Neto.

I think what they wanted does matter. If they wanted way too much, I won't care if Neto does better than Durbin. Maybe down the road, if the guys LAA wanted end up sucking, we can go back and think "what if..."

Neto looked like a much better target, and the demand must have been way higher than Harrison and scraps. Hell, even Harrison is a doubtful piece in any trade.

I wish we had Neto, but they probably thought the disparity in trade offers ve returns significantly favored the Durbin deal. I'm pretty certain Neto will do much better than Durbin, and I'm not sure the extra 2 years from Durbin make up the difference.

I really like the comp pick, as we lost our #2 and it's bonus money with it.

[Old Red]

37 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I think what they wanted does matter. If they wanted way too much, I won't care if Neto does better than Durbin. Maybe down the road, if the guys LAA wanted end up sucking, we can go back and think "what if..."

Neto looked like a much better target, and the demand must have been way higher than Harrison and scraps. Hell, even Harrison is a doubtful piece in any trade.

I wish we had Neto, but they probably thought the disparity in trade offers ve returns significantly favored the Durbin deal. I'm pretty certain Neto will do much better than Durbin, and I'm not sure the extra 2 years from Durbin make up the difference.

I really like the comp pick, as we lost our #2 and it's bonus money with it.

Of course what the Angels wanted mattered, and that’s why the Red Sox didn’t get Neto. It’s over now, and the Red Sox got Durbin, so that’s why I said it doesn’t matter now.

[Old Red]

49 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's not a comparison since we don't know the trade package. If they had to trade Mayer, you'd have to factor Mayer AND Durbin AND Tolle AND whoever else vs Neto. 

The point being that it seems the REd Sox apparently wanted Neto pretty bad, and didn’t get him. I believe Alonso was their ist choice for 1B, and didn’t get him. Bregman was their Plan A above everything else, and didn’t get him. Didn’t get him is the theme here.