Yes, this season has been a disaster for the Boston Red Sox. Yes, the Red Sox should be sellers ahead of this year's trade deadline. Yes, they should trade Aroldis Chapman. Yes, they should trade Sonny Gray. Yes, they should trade Jarren Duran/Masataka Yoshida.
No, they shouldn't trade Willson Contreras.
Willson Contreras is putting together an incredible season in Boston
Contreras has far and away been Boston's best hitter this season. And it really hasn't been all that close.
He leads the team in home runs (16 - Duran is in second with 11), RBIs (43 - Duran is in second with 36), walks (25 - Willyer Abreu is in second with 24), BA (.304 - Ceddanne Rafaela is in second with .286), OBP (.396 - technically Roman Anthony is in second with .354, Rafaela is next closest of players with more than 130 plate appearances with .341), SLG (.570 - Rafaela is second with .450), and OPS (.965 - Rafaela is second with .791)
All of that led me to two takeaways: 1) Rafaela is having an even better season than I realized, and 2) Contreras has been an actual revelation for the Red Sox and deserves to at least see this season through.
Hell no. Why? So you have to fill a huge hole at 1B as well???? You have him for 2 more yrs after this one. https://t.co/W3Qfegi5ex
— Lou Merloni (@LouMerloni) June 11, 2026
Contreras has been in the majors for a while, but he's on pace to have potentially the best season of his career. For some reference, his season-high in home runs is 24 (the 2019 season with the Chicago Cubs). He's on pace to absolutely crush that this season. Plus, he's never batted better than .282 (or .276 if we don't want to include his 76 games in his first major league season), but he's on pace to crush that, too.
Willson Contreras is easily Boston's best option at first base
Contreras recently turned 34 years old, but the Red Sox should feel good about what he can bring to the table now and for the foreseeable future. He has another two years left on his five-year, $87.5 million contract after this one (including a $20 million team option for the 2028 season).
And it's not like they have a clear replacement for him if they opt to move on from him. If the Red Sox trade Gray, they already have a talented rotation beyond him. If they trade Durran or Yoshia, they have guys Anthony, Abreu, and Rafaela to help fill their absence. If they trade Chapman, maybe someone like Garrett Whitlock can take over as the team's closer.
If they trade Contreras, they don't have anybody. We still have no clue what's going on with Triston Casas, who has been out of action for over a year. And, no disrespect to him, but it would be a huge downgrade going from Contreras to someone like Mickey Gasper (who has played first base in the Venezuelan native's absences) on a full-time basis.
Boston should absolutely make some changes this season, but none of them should include Contreras, who has been one of the team's lone bright spots this season.
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