That said, those conversations remain alive. Early in the offseason, Arenado — who has the right to veto a trade, a power he exercised to quash a deal that would have sent him to Houston in mid-December — made clear to the Cardinals that he’d accept a trade to Boston. Arenado, who has finished in the top 10 in National League MVP voting six times (five straight years with the Rockies from 2015-19, then again with the Cardinals in 2022), struggled in his age-33 season in 2024, hitting .272/.325/.394 with a 101 OPS+. While his strikeout rate remained extremely low (14.5 percent), his quality of contact plummeted, with a career-low 32 percent hard-hit rate that contributed to a career-low slugging mark. And while Arenado has been a force against lefthanders throughout his career, 2024 marked the second straight year he struggled against southpaws, with a .235/.266/.379 line. It also marked the second straight year in which Arenado — a lifetime .285/.342/.515 hitter with a 120 OPS+ — performed at roughly a league-average offensive level. Still, some strengths remained evident, among them the ability to put the ball in play and pull it in the air to left field, which would play particularly well at Fenway . In 13 career games at Fenway, Arenado has six homers while hitting .333/.362/.704. “He’s told me that he loves coming through there and feeling the energy,” Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story, who played with Arenado for five seasons in Colorado, said last month. “Obviously any righthander that pulls the ball in the air is a great profile for Fenway. And that’s what he does with the best of them.” Arenado, considered one of the best defensive third basemen in history, remained excellent in the field last year. Statcast graded the 10-time Gold Glover as being worth seven Outs Above Average, a noteworthy skill given the Sox’ porous infield defense last year. Arenado and free agent Alex Bregman remain options as the Red Sox continue their efforts to acquire a righthanded bat. However, if Bregman continues to hold out for a deal of six or more years, it’s unlikely he’ll end up in Boston, even though he represents a cleaner roster fit. The Red Sox would likely shift Bregman to second base, allowing them to leave Rafael Devers at third base, Triston Casas at first, and Masataka Yoshida as a DH. If the Sox trade for Arenado, it would likely mean shifting Devers to first and DH, putting Yoshida’s roster fit in question (at a time when he is owed $55.8 million over the next three years).
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