{"id":441295,"date":"2026-01-31T18:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/441295\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T18:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:09:07","slug":"red-sox-checked-in-on-nico-hoerner-matt-shaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/441295\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox “Checked In” On Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Bregman<\/a>\u2019s decision to sign with the Cubs left the Red Sox with some uncertainty within their infield picture, as both second base and Bregman\u2019s old third base position remain unsettled heading into Spring Training.\u00a0 Top prospect Marcelo Mayer<\/a> seems to be penciled into one of the two spots, with Mayer likely playing third while the collection of Romy Gonzalez<\/a>, Nick Sogard<\/a>, and\/or Kristian Campbell<\/a> will handle the playing time at the keystone.<\/p>\n

A new acquisition could certainly change this picture, and such free agents and trade targets as Isaac Paredes<\/a>, Brendan Donovan<\/a>, and Eugenio Suarez<\/a> remain available.\u00a0 Plenty of other players remain on Boston\u2019s radar, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe<\/a> writes that the Red Sox \u201care among the many teams that have checked in about\u201d Cubs infielders Nico Hoerner<\/a> and Matt Shaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There would be some irony if a trade came together between Bregman\u2019s new and former teams, though there is no sense that a deal is anywhere close between Boston and Chicago.\u00a0 Trade speculation swirled around Hoerner and Shaw even before Bregman arrived in Wrigleyville, with the Yankees, Giants, and Mariners all reportedly showing interest in Hoerner.\u00a0 While the Cubs may be at least open to hearing offers for Hoerner out of due diligence, however, there isn\u2019t much indication that the team has any real interest in moving the two-time Gold Glover.<\/p>\n

The Bregman signing solidified Chicago\u2019s starting infield alignment as Bregman at third, Hoerner at second, Dansby Swanson<\/a> at shortstop, and Michael Busch<\/a> at first base.\u00a0 Ian Happ<\/a>, Pete Crow-Armstrong<\/a>, and Seiya Suzuki<\/a> line up as the starting outfield trio, and the open DH spot could be a revolving door for several players to get partial rest days.\u00a0 This in turn would open up playing time for Shaw or another top prospects in Moises Ballesteros<\/a> and Kevin Alcantara<\/a>, and give these youngsters some semi-regular at-bats in the majors without the pressure of a true everyday role on a contending team.<\/p>\n

Trading Hoerner or Shaw would immediately alter the Cubs\u2019 plans for the coming season at least, and moving Shaw would have a longer-term impact since he only just made his MLB debut in 2025.\u00a0 Hoerner is a free agent next winter, and with Bregman now locked into the hot corner, the thought has been that Shaw could take over from Hoerner as second base.\u00a0 (The Cubs are also considering<\/a> Shaw as an outfield option to expand his versatility.)<\/p>\n

Even with Hoerner nearing the open market, it would take a lot for the Cubs to part ways with a proven veteran who is probably the best defensive second baseman in baseball, not to mention an above-average hitter (106 wRC+) over the last five seasons.\u00a0 It would take even more for Chicago to deal a top prospect like Shaw who comes with so much team control, yet Boston\u2019s pitching depth could at least get the Cubs to take notice.\u00a0 Since Jameson Taillon<\/a> and Matthew Boyd<\/a> will also be free agents next season, bringing aboard a Payton Tolle<\/a> or a Connelly Early<\/a> would be an intriguing way for the Cubs to bolster their rotation over the longer term.\u00a0 It is safe to say that Tolle or Early would only be on the table (if at all) for Shaw, as the Sox aren\u2019t likely to move either of those arms for one year of Hoerner.<\/p>\n

While Shaw has the prospect pedigree to interest any team, it would be quite a pivot if the Red Sox traded from their high-level pitching depth to acquire a young infielder, given how Boston (in theory) already has plenty of position-player building blocks in place.\u00a0 If Mayer is able to stay healthy and break out as a big leaguer, that provides a ton of stability at either third base, second base, or at shortstop if Mayer is ultimately the heir apparent to Trevor Story<\/a>.\u00a0 In this sense, bringing in Hoerner as a somewhat overqualified stopgap for the 2026 season might be a better fit to give the Sox more time to see what they have in Meyer or Campbell.<\/p>\n

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has been very active on the trade front since taking over Boston\u2019s front office in October 2023, though the Garrett Cooper<\/a>-for-cash considerations deal in April 2024<\/a> remains the only deal swung between Breslow and his former team.\u00a0 For the 2019-23 seasons, Breslow worked in the Cubs front office, and he was promoted to an assistant GM role during the 2020-21 offseason after Jed Hoyer was promoted to president of Chicago\u2019s baseball operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Bregman\u2019s decision to sign with the Cubs left the Red Sox with some uncertainty within their infield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[25927,363,25922,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-441295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-matt-shaw","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-nico-hoerner","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}