After Willson Contreras Trade, Here’s What Red Sox Lineup Looks Like

The Boston Red Sox have reportedly traded for St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras. Headed back to the Cardinals in the deal are three right-handers: Hunter Dobbins, Yhoiker Fajardo, and Blake Aita, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

Contreras, 33, delivered a solid performance last season with the Cardinals, transitioning primarily to first base amid team needs. He appeared in 135 games, batting .257 with 20 home runs and 80 RBI, while posting a .791 OPS and contributing 70 runs scored. His power remained consistent, marking his fourth straight year with at least 15 homers, though injuries limited some defensive play. The Cardinals missed the playoffs again, but Contreras provided steady offense in a rebuilding lineup.

Over his decade-long career, Contreras has established himself as a durable force, amassing a .258 average, 172 home runs, and 548 RBI across 1,078 games. Debuting with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, he helped secure a World Series title that year and earned three All-Star nods during his seven seasons there.

Signing with St. Louis in 2023 brought new challenges, including adapting to catcher and first base roles.

Red Sox fans are already imagining what Boston’s new lineup would look like if the season started today.

Of course, the season is still months away, and Boston is still reportedly pursuing a potential deal to re-unite with third baseman Alex Bregman, which would impact the Red Sox’s offense substantially.

The Red Sox are also said to be interesting in Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte on the trade market. For now, Boston enters the Christmas holiday with a completely different first base situation.

It’ll be interesting to see how Triston Casas is impacted by the arrival of Contreras. In that vein, it’ll also be interesting to see if the Red Sox experiment with Contreras at different positions defensively once Casas is fully healthy, to get Triston some at-bats.

The most likely outcome is to have one of the two guys get DH at-bats while the other plays first, but it’s notable that Contreras has played third base and both corner outfield positions before in his career, as well as catcher, of course.

With Contreras aging into his mid-thirties, he’s likely to stick mostly at first. Defensive alignment aside, Willson’s right-handed bat is what’s most important when it comes to this trade. The Red Sox have added another powerful righty bat that will play well at Fenway Park. Is Bregman next?