Red Sox willing to trade top prospect?

Craig Breslow has taken on a big task in turning around a Boston Red Sox franchise that finished dead last in the AL East this past season. There will be a lot of pressure on the newly installed chief baseball officer to make some big moves this offseason to shake up the roster. Trading the club's top prospect, shortstop Marcelo Mayer, may even be on the table. 

MassLive.com's group of beat writers -- Chris Cotillo, Christopher Smith and Sean McAdam -- got together to make some predictions on the club's upcoming offseason. Each of the three separately brought up the idea of Mayer being moved in a trade. 

Cotillo speculates on a Mayer, Alex Verdugo and Kutter Crawford package potentially bringing back one of Seattle's young starting pitchers (George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo or Bryce Miller). Smith mentions Mayer as a candidate to be included alongside Verdugo in a deal for pitching but doesn't touch on targets. 

McAdam, meanwhile, points out that Breslow has no attachment to Mayer and with Trevor Story under contract for four more seasons, the opportunity might be now to move the soon-to-be 21-year-old. 

The former first-round pick (4th overall in 2021) was hampered by injuries this past season, limiting him to just 78 games between two levels. He started the season on a strong note, hitting .290/.366/.524 over 35 games before earning a promotion to Double-A where the offensive struggles started. He would slash just .189/.254/.355 over 190 plate appearances before a shoulder injury ended his season early. 

Before the season, Mayer was on a timeline that put him in the majors sometime in 2024. It's unclear how the shoulder injury (or more importantly, the lack of playing time) will impact that.