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Red Sox trade for Willson Contreras, adding bat to lineup in deal with Cardinals
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- Red Sox trade for Willson Contreras, adding bat to lineup in deal with Cardinals
The Red Sox have been pursuing a major lineup addition for weeks, engaging in trade talks and free agent negotiations in an effort to do so. On Sunday night, they landed one in a deal with a familiar trade partner.
In the second significant trade between the clubs in a month, Boston acquired three-time All-Star Willson Contreras and cash from the Cardinals in a deal that sent righty Hunter Dobbins and pitching prospects Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita to the Cardinals, a source confirmed Sunday night. The Cardinals will pay $8 million of the remaining $42.5 million on Contreras' contract, which goes through 2027, includes a club option for 2028 — and was restructured in order to finalize the deal. Contreras had a full no-trade clause and waived it to come to Boston, much like Gray did in late November.
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The trade is expected to be announced Monday with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow addressing the media then. Breslow once again made a major swap with his predecessor, Chaim Bloom, who took over as St. Louis' president of baseball operations after the season .
Contreras is the first major offensive addition of the winter for Breslow, who after swinging trades for Gray and fellow righty Johan Oviedo turned his attention to supplementing a lineup that went cold in a brief return to the postseason. In Contreras, who the Sox hope can run into more homers by pulling the ball in the air at Fenway Park, the Sox have added a potent right-handed bat who provides a little bit of versatility when it comes to his role.
Contreras, a lifelong catcher who turns 34 in May, shifted to first base for the first time in his career in 2025 and hit .257 with 20 homers, 31 doubles, 80 RBIs and a .791 OPS in 135 games. The former Cub was last an All-Star in 2022, when he was a full-time catcher, but did not appear behind the plate last season. For now, he projects to get a large share of the at-bats at first base and designated hitter with Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez (first base) and Masataka Yoshida (DH) also factoring into that mix, barring further trades. The addition of Contreras is not good news for Casas, though not necessarily a surprise because Boston has been hesitant to commit to him as the starting first baseman for 2026 as he completes his rehab from the torn patellar tendon in his knee he suffered in early May.
Contreras could also serve as a third catcher, on occasion, behind Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong . He also has played left field in his career, but not more than once in a season since 2018. While Contreras was added for his bat — he ranked among the best in baseball in bat speed, barrel percentage, expected weighted on-base percentage and hard-hit rate in 2025 — he also proved to be a capable defender in 1,011 ⅔ innings at first last year. Contreras provided negative-1 defensive runs saved (DRS) last year but ranked in the 91st percentile for range (6 OAA) and the 76th percentile for arm strength (88.2 mph), per Statcast .
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MassLive first reported the Red Sox' interest in Contreras earlier this month . At the time, Boston was in talks with multiple teams about bats, including Houston 's Isaac Paredes , Arizona 's Ketel Marte and Contreras' teammate Brendan Donovan . With Contreras in tow, the Red Sox are expected to continue pursuing bats via free agency and trade. The Red Sox remain engaged with third baseman Alex Bregman about a return to Boston, as well, with club officials remaining hopeful — but not necessarily either optimistic or pessimistic — at this juncture. Bregman, along with Marte, fellow top free agent Bo Bichette and others, remains available and the Red Sox still have openings at both second base and third base as Christmas approaches. The big question looming over Breslow — who has yet to sign a major league free agent despite adding big contracts in the form of Gray and Contreras — pertains to the Sox' willingness to spend, potentially past the second CBT (competitive balance tax) of $264 million.
To waive his no-trade clause, Contreras reworked his contract and received an additional $1 million on top of what he was guaranteed. He'll now earn $18 million in 2026 and $17 million in 2027, according to major league sources. His slightly reworked deal calls for his 2028 club option to increase from $17.5 million to $20 million and the buyout on that deal to increase from $5 million to $7.5 million. He's guaranteed $42.5 million (two years plus the buyout) and his deal could be worth $55 million over three years if the 2028 option is exercised.
To add Contreras, the Red Sox continued a pattern of dealing young pitching in a package headlined by Dobbins, who impressed in an injury-shortened debut season in 2025, and Fajardo, who was one of Boston's fastest-rising pitching prospects in the minors last year. Just like they did in the other deal with St. Louis in which rotation candidate Richard Fitts and prospect Brandon Clarke were dealt for Gray, the Red Sox dealt from their pool of young pitching depth to improve their chances in 2026.
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Dobbins, 26, is expected to be ready for Opening Day after missing the second half of the season with a torn ACL he suffered in July. The former eighth-round pick (back in 2021, when Bloom ran the Red Sox) looked likely to factor into the Sox' rotation mix, but the club has felt more comfortable dealing from its pitching depth this winter, especially after adding Gray and Johan Oviedo to the mix via trades. Dobbins, who coincidentally debuted against the Cardinals during Boston's first homestand of last season, posted a 4.13 ERA in 13 games (11 starts), striking out 45 batters in 61 innings.
After dealing Dobbins and Fitts while losing Cooper Criswell on waivers, the Red Sox have narrowed their pool of rotation candidates for 2026. Garrett Crochet , Gray and Brayan Bello are expected to form the veteran core while Oviedo, young lefties Connelly Early and Payton Tolle and returnees Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval compete for back-end spots.
Fajardo, who turned 19 in October, was a little-known pitching prospect when he was acquired from the White Sox for lefty reliever Cam Booser exactly one year ago . He then took a big jump across two levels during the regular season, dominating to a 2.25 ERA in 19 games (17 starts) across rookie ball and Single-A Salem. While Fajardo is still far from a finished product at age 19, his four-pitch mix was intriguing enough in 2025 for him to rocket up prospect lists. The Venezuela native was ranked as the No. 9 prospect in Boston's system after the season, per Baseball America, and is the third top-10 prospect to be dealt this winter (joining Luis Perales and Jhostynxton Garcia. SoxProspects ranked Fajardo eighth in Boston's system at the time of the deal.
Aita, 22, was Boston's sixth-round pick out of Kennesaw State in 2024 and threw 115 ⅓ innings across two levels (Single-A Salem and High-A Greenville) in 2025, logging a 3.98 ERA. The righty was 36th on SoxProspects' list .
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ESPN's Jeff Passan first reported the deal for Contreras.
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