The Willson Contreras Trade Buzz No Red Sox Fan Saw Coming

Despite a terrible start to the 2026 Major League Baseball season, Boston Red Sox fans shouldn't give up on this team yet.

The Red Sox are actually above .500 with interim manager Chad Tracy leading the charge. Boston is 12-10 over its last 22 games and has won four of its last five games. The Red Sox's pitching and defense are both elite and the offense has finally started to wake up.

This team isn't dead in the water. Things are trending up and the Red Sox don't even have Garrett Crochet or Roman Anthony healthy right now. Both of them will return. Plus, president and chief executive officer Sam Kennedy said on Friday that the Red Sox already are looking for ways to add offense to this club in the trade market.

Boston is going to get better with Anthony and Crochet returning and Craig Breslow always seems to have something up his sleeve. Don't count out Boston.

It is a bit of a weird year, though. After the season, the collective bargaining agreement will expire and everything beyond the World Series this upcoming fall is completely up in the air. Will there be baseball in 2027? Hopefully. It seems more likely than not that baseball will be played, but it's going to be an ugly offseason.

It's A Weird Season For Major League Baseball

May 20, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras (40) slides into third base for a triple during the second inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The looming CBA questions also are clearly having an impact on the season itself. Trade talks have already started much earlier than usual. On Friday, ESPN's Buster Olney dropped a fascinating column about upcoming trade deadline X-factors. In it, Olney discussed how the labor questions are impacting teams' thinking.

One thing that stood out in a negative way, though, was the fact that Olney noted that some around the league are looking at Boston as a team that could make surprising moves with the labor questions in mind. Olney specifically mentioned Willson Contreras.

"Some rival executives cite the Red Sox as an example: They have the option of dumping the salary of first baseman Willson Contreras, who is owed $6 million for the last two months of this year and $17 million next year, with a $7.5 million buyout that's part of his 2028 option," Olney wrote when discussing how teams can "streamline" payroll to plan for attendance dips.

The Red Sox already have some pretty bad public relations around the team. Owner John Henry's comments earlier in the week didn't help.

Contreras is one of the guys who have been a bright spot for the team all season to this point. If Boston ended up cutting ties with him in a salary dump because of the labor questions around the league, Boston fans would revolt, unless the Red Sox are near the bottom of the standings when the summer gets here.

It's going to be an interesting few months and the Red Sox still clearly seem like a team more likely to add than subtract, especially after Kennedy's comments on Friday. But things are weird around the league. Hopefully, that doesn't lead to a Contreras deal.

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