Red Sox-Tigers Trade Idea Ships Wilyer Abreu To Detroit For Top-5 Prospect

Wilyer Abreu has been the best player on the Boston Red Sox through three percent of the season. But his future with the team is still at least a little uncertain.

Abreu, 25, put up a Gold Glove season as a rookie in 2024, establishing himself as at least a quality big-league starting outfielder. The Red Sox, though, have top prospect Roman Anthony on the verge of making his debut, and right field could be his most logical landing spot.

It should be emphasized that the Red Sox don't have to give up Abreu to make room for Anthony. They can move Ceddanne Rafaela, the current starting center fielder, into a utility role. They can also just rotate bats in and out, playing the hot hand until someone potentially gets hurt.

However, if the Red Sox somehow feel Abreu is worth more to them as a trade chip while his value is high, they should have teams clamoring to get him on their roster. One baseball writer believes the Detroit Tigers should be one of those teams.

In a recent article, Athlon's TJ French proposed a hypothetical trade that would send Abreu to Detroit for utility man Andy Ibañez and Tigers top catching prospect Thayron Liranzo, giving the Red Sox a potential solution for their current lack of a long-term starting backstop.

"Liranzo is a catcher prospect who projects well at the plate and is just 21 years old, making his way through the pipeline," French wrote. "In the past two seasons in MiLB, he has hit 36 home runs and 46 doubles in nearly 700 at-bats.

"Boston also has No. 2 overall prospect Roman Anthony seemingly ready for his MLB debut... so moving off Abreu for Anthony's future stardom isn't a bad idea."

Liranzo posted a .786 OPS in High-A last season, including a 1.032 mark in 26 games after he was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty deal. The Tigers might view him as their future starter now too, but their need for another outfield bat may be greater.

Moving on from Abreu might be a risk the Red Sox are unwilling to take, even assuming the rest of the offense gets out of its slump soon enough. But getting a top catching prospect would be ideal if they did choose to move him to clear the path for Anthony.