The [Boston Red Sox](https://nesn.com/boston-red-sox) showed at this year's Major League Baseball trade deadline that they're willing to do whatever it takes to win a World Series.
Unfortunately for Boston, not all moves worked out, but none were wrong.
The biggest was the trade for Adley Rutschman, which sent out a massive prospect haul. Rutschman is one of the better catchers in baseball, and with the expectation that the Red Sox will keep him around eventually, it was a plus trade.
While it remains uncertain who else the Red Sox were truly interested in, the latest report suggests they almost made a major decision. According to The Athletic's Red Sox beat writer, Boston explored moving on from Franklin Arias.
The front office made a smart decision to go in a different direction.
"At the trade deadline this past summer, the Red Sox, according to league sources, explored the possibility of selling high and trading Arias for a young, controllable shortstop as a way to bolster their 2026 roster for the postseason," Jen McCaffrey [wrote](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7705551/2026/10/20/red-sox-shortstop-decision-trevor-story-franklin-arias/). "They opted to keep Arias, suggesting how highly they value him."
Prospect hugging can put teams in a weird spot, as the Red Sox have unfortunately found out.
However, Arias seems different.
What he was able to do in Triple-A this past season at just 20 years old was flat-out ridiculous, and not giving him a chance to show whether he can do that in Major League Baseball in Boston would be a tough outcome.
There's still plenty of time before we get a real feel for what he's like as a player, but the early signs suggest he could be beyond elite.
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