Red Sox trade Connelly Early for infielder who has hit 17 homers for Nationals this season
· Yahoo Sports
BOSTON — More than a week before the trade deadline, the Red Sox have dealt from their starting rotation depth to add a bat to their lineup.
Boston has agreed to trade rookie lefty Connelly Early to the Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead, sources confirmed late Saturday, marking the club’s first strike ahead of next Monday’s deadline. The 1-for-1 swap will be finalized before Sunday’s game.
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Early, who has made 17 starts for Boston this year, heads to Washington for Mead, a breakout star so far this season who has logged 371 ⅔ innings at third base and 22 frames at second. According to sources, the Red Sox haven’t settled yet on a position for Mead and are considering where to play him and third baseman Caleb Durbin, who has signaled a willingness to move to second base. Mead had also seen upwards of 400 innings at first base in the majors and a small bit of time at shortstop; he could also factor into the Sox’ mix at designated hitter.
The move represents the first effort of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to add to the 53-50 Red Sox, who have surged into contention by winning 21 of their last 25 games. With the first move, the Sox are subtracting from a major surplus — young starting pitching — to add to a lineup that has been deficient for most of the season. Last weekend, Breslow — without saying whether or not the club would buy or sell ahead of the August 3 trade deadline — conceded that adding offense would be the primary objective should the Red Sox aim to buy.
“I don’t think I would look at this team and come to drastically different conclusions than anyone else who’s watching us,” he said last Sunday. “We’ve gotten consistently good starting pitching, good relief pitching. At times we’ve struggled to score runs. So, I think that’s a place where we’ll spend time. But until we know what teams are looking to do, and until we know what’s available, it’s really difficult to say like, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do.’”
Mead, who turns 26 in October, is an Australia native who has broken out in 2026. A former Rays top prospect who logged a .617 OPS in his first 488 plate appearances in the majors from 2023 to 2025 with the Rays and White Sox, Mead was traded to the Nationals right after Opening Day and has surged in Washington. In 86 games (322 plate appearances) so far, he has hit .256 with 17 homers, 17 doubles, 48 RBIs and an .856 OPS. He has logged an .895 OPS against lefties and an .827 OPS against right-handed pitchers.
Mead is under control through 2030 — or four more seasons after this one. A former international signee of Philadelphia, he has now been traded four times in his career — and three in the last 365 days. Originally sent from Philadelphia to Tampa Bay for All-Star Cristopher Sánchez in 2019, Mead was sent (along with Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples) to the White Sox in a deadline deal for rental starter Adrian Houser last July. Mead lost out on an Opening Day roster spot in Chicago and was designated for assignment, then traded to the Nats for their 2025 sixth-round pick, Boston Smith.
Early, 24, was a player development success story last season, when he joined the Red Sox in September and dominated in four starts before — due to attrition among veterans in the rotation — was tasked to start Game 3 of the Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium. This year, he dominated in spring training enough to win an Opening Day roster spot, then was one of Boston’s top starters for the first couple months of the year. Through the end of May, the Virginia product had a 2.95 ERA — though, a more concerning 4.48 FIP – in 61 innings over 11 outings. He struggled to a 4.40 ERA and 4.86 FIP over six June starts before leaving a June 30 outing with elbow inflammation and landing on the injured list.
Early threw a bullpen session Friday and is said to be relatively close to returning to action, which the Nationals obviously feel is the case. The Red Sox have an abundance of starting pitching depth with Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett taking strides this season and joining veterans Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez and — when healthy, Garrett Crochet. It’s clear Breslow felt as though Early, who is controlled through the 2031 season, was expendable.
Boston will move forward with a rotation mix of healthy options Gray, Suarez (who will be activated Sunday), Tolle, Bennett and Patrick Sandoval as well as Brayan Bello, who is currently on the roster as a long reliever. The club is also awaiting the healthy returns of Crochet, Johan Oviedo, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford — and another move for a starter can’t be ruled out with Boston looking to keep an eye on the workload of young pitchers like Tolle and Bennett.
The deal is the second major transaction between Breslow and Washington president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, who left the Sox for the Nationals last fall. In January, the Red Sox sent pitching prospect Luis Perales to the Nats for Bennett in another 1-for-1 swap.
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