Red Sox $120 Million Superstar Is MLB's No. 1 Trade Chip At Deadline

Predicting the Boston Red Sox's next move has become a very dangerous game.

Trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants was the most shocking transaction of the year in Major League Baseball, and it came at a particularly crazy time. The Red Sox were rolling, having re-established themselves in the playoff race, and suddenly, their best hitter was gone.

Now, their new best hitter is on the injured list. Third baseman Alex Bregman suffered a quad strain a month ago in the middle of a fantastic start to the season, and he's hoping to be back in early July, or at the latest, before the All-Star break.

Bregman signed a three-year, $120 million contract with the Red Sox, but he has an opt-out after this season. If the Red Sox are worried they won't be able to extend him, could they ship him off before the Jul. 31 trade deadline?

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan don't foresee it happening, but acknowledged it's possible. On Tuesday, McDaniel and Passan named Bregman as the number-one trade chip of any player who could feasibly be moved at the deadline, giving him a 10 percent chance of being dealt.

"Bregman has been an elite big league hitter since he entered the league in 2016 but has leaned more into power this year, with his highest isolated power since 2019," the authors wrote.

"Most of his underlying power indicators (barrel rate, maximum exit velo, average launch angle and hard hit rate) are at career highs. His $40 million salary -- and the chance to opt into two more years at $40 million annually -- significantly shortens the list of teams that would take on his deal."

To that last point, the insiders named the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, and New York Mets as potential fits for Bregman. Moving him to the Bronx would be almost as big a gut punch for Red Sox fans as the Devers deal, but who's to say it's off the table now?

Ultimately, the smart money is on Bregman not being traded. But the fact that it's on the table is painful, and losing him to free agency after just a year following the Devers fallout would be the most brutal outcome of all.