Red Sox-Royals Trade Idea Cuts Ties With Wilyer Abreu For Likely All-Star

Is this the right outfield move to make?

May 9, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu (52) bats against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The idea of the Boston Red Sox making a "baseball trade" at the Jul. 31 deadline is appealing. Sadly, it may not be that realistic.

Usually, teams are grouped into "buyers" and "sellers" to some degree, and they're either looking to acquire veteran talent or trade it away for prospects. But the Red Sox would love to make a deal in which they cut bait with one of their young, controllable outfielders if it nets them a quality starting pitcher.

One baseball writer came up with a trade idea on Sunday that would see the Red Sox pick up a likely first-time All-Star from the Kansas City Royals.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller hypothesized that the Red Sox might be willing to send outfielder Wilyer Abreu to the Royals in exchange for Kris Bubic, the breakout star of the Royals' season with a 2.18 ERA through 15 starts.

"Among the more than 150 pitchers with at least 120 innings of work since the beginning of last season, Bubic is one of four with a sub-2.50 FIP. The others are Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale—with (Garrett) Crochet not far behind at 2.62. Bubic isn't much of a household name at a national level, but he could be Boston's savior on the mound," Miller wrote.

"The Rafael Devers trade didn't do much of anything to address Boston's surplus of quality outfielders, provided we're all in agreement that Roman Anthony is going to be a productive major leaguer sooner rather than later. They can trade Abreu away and still have a stacked five-man outfield of Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Rob Refsnyder and Masataka Yoshida."

There's no doubt Bubic has been great this season, but he barely snuck into the Royals' rotation. He's been in the league much longer than Abreu has, but it seems like we already know what we're going to get from the latter (~115 OPS+ with Gold Glove defense), while Bubic could be an ace or go back to the 4.85 ERA starter he was before this season began.

All that is to say that the trade isn't as much of a no-brainer for Boston as it might seem on the surface. But if Kansas City were amenable to the concept, which there's no evidence yet that they are, it would be unsurprising to see Boston pull the trigger.

More MLB: Red Sox's Jarren Duran Breaks Silence On Possible Trade Out Of Boston