Among the many moves the [Boston Red Sox](https://nesn.com/boston-red-sox) made at the Major League Baseball trade deadline, one that came as a bit of a surprise was the decision to move on from Connelly Early.
Early, who has shown some nice signs during his time in Major League Baseball, felt like a guy who would be with the organization for quite some time.
The Red Sox, however, decided to go in a different direction, landing Curtis Mead in return. Mead is a good player in his own right, but Early looked like a guy who had the stuff to be a real frontline starter at one point.
Considering he's only 24 years old, trading a controllable pitcher for a player of Mead's caliber came as somewhat of a surprise.
Unfortunately, the Red Sox had to do what they had to do, and Early was part of that.
He's currently dealing with left elbow inflammation and is on the 60-day IL. While the Red Sox's decision came as a surprise, it seemed like many teams around the league knew that he was available, as the Chicago Cubs were previously interested, according to Pat Ragazzo.
"One of the other many names that the Cubs front office and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer discussed has now come to light. The Cubs had interest in then Boston Red Sox left-handed starter Connelly Early ahead of the deadline, as sources tell FanSided," Ragazzo [wrote](https://cubbiescrib.com/cubs-rumors-jed-hoyer-attempted-big-red-sox-trade-at-deadline-before-nationals-deal).
It would have been interesting to see the type of package the Cubs would have given the Red Sox, but it's also important to note that they probably wouldn't have given up a big-league-ready player like Mead, who has experience in this league.
The Cubs are also trying to win, like the Red Sox, so that package would have looked very different from what we saw.
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