Where Red Sox Stand On Potential Trade For Brewers' Freddy Peralta

At the start of the winter, it seemed like the Boston Red Sox might be the perfect team to partner with the Milwaukee Brewers on a trade for ace Freddy Peralta.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was talking a big game about his team's need for a No. 2 starter (though he might not have used those exact words), and Peralta would essentially be a co-ace for Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet. But while Peralta has thus far stayed put, it's Boston that has seemingly pivoted,

After the acquisitions of Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals and Johan Oviedo from the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Red Sox have pivoted the bulk of their offseason search to finding a big bat. On Saturday, however, the question of Boston trading for Peralta was revisted.

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Would Red Sox part ways with Early or Tolle?

On Saturday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Brewers, who were at least open to the idea of moving Peralta, were looking for major league ready starting pitching in a return package, which would mean the Red Sox would have to give up one of their two rookie left-handers in all likelihood.

Though the Red Sox have been known to be interested in Peralta at various points this offseason, Rosenthal seemed skeptical that they'd be willing to pull the trigger on moving Connelly Early or Payton Tolle.

"The Atlanta Braves (JR Ritchie), New York Yankees (Carlos Lagrange, Elmer Rodríguez), Boston Red Sox (Payton Tolle, Connelly Early) and Los Angeles Dodgers (River Ryan, Emmett Sheehan, Gavin Stone) are among the other clubs with the ability to entice the Brewers — again, assuming they are willing to make that type of move," wrote Rosenthal.

"The Braves, with age and injury questions in their rotation, might be reluctant. Ditto for the Red Sox, who already have parted with young pitching in trades for first baseman Willson Contreras and pitchers Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo."

If the Red Sox are going to make any more big trades this winter, conventional wisdom would say they'd rather deal from their outfield surplus (i.e. part ways with Jarren Duran) than continue depleting their young pitching, especially one of the budding stars in Tolle or Early.

It's never wise to rule anything out, especially when it comes to the Brewers trading away an All-Star. But in the grand scheme of Red Sox possibilities, this one currently feels minimal.

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