Boston Red Sox
“Sometimes you have to overpay in trades to better your team, which is why this trade actually made sense for the Red Sox despite the overpay.”
Curtis Mead was injured in his first game with the Red Sox last week. AP Photo/Scott Marshall
Craig Breslow and the Boston Red Sox were busy ahead of Monday’s MLB trade deadline — making a flurry of moves over the last few weeks that brought in players like Adley Rutschman, Curtis Mead, Erik Miller, and Eli White.
But, Boston had to pay a steep price to bring in these reinforcements for the stretch run, with the Red Sox giving up two of their top pitching prospects to pry Rutschman away from an AL East foe in Baltimore.
But, former MLB GM and current The Athletic writer Jim Bowden believes that the most lopsided trade for the Red Sox — and for every MLB team leading up to the trade deadline — was Boston’s one-for-one swap involving Mead and lefty starter Connelly Early.
In his article running through superlatives for all of MLB’s deals before the trade deadline, he deemed Boston’s deal with the Nationals as the “biggest overpay” across the league.
“Early has less than one year of service time and profiles as a mid-rotation starter with many years in the big leagues ahead of him,” Bowden said. “Sometimes you have to overpay in trades to better your team, which is why this trade actually made sense for the Red Sox despite the overpay. It was just bad luck for Boston that Mead suffered an injury two plate appearances into his Red Sox career.
“And, by the way, every team overpaid for right-handed power at this year’s deadline. The Yankees gave up a haul for Heliot Ramos, the Guardians also overpaid in landing Jo Adell and the Mariners traded a lot of talent in their pickup of [Taylor] Ward.”
As noted by Bowden, the Red Sox had some brutal luck when it came to Mead, who was expected to add some much-needed pop in the middle of Boston’s lineup.
Where does Curtis Mead immediately rank in the Red Sox lineup?
135 wRC+ – 2nd
.359 xwOBA – 2nd
.856 OPS – 2nd
.351 OBP – 2nd
.505 SLG – 2nd
17 HR – 2nd
Willson Contreras is the only bat ahead of him at the moment. pic.twitter.com/bFSZ8Bvskl
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) July 26, 2026
The 25-year-old infielder suffered a fractured wrist in just his second at-bat with Boston last week, sidelining him for at least the next six to eight weeks. If he is cleared to return, Mead likely won’t factor into Boston’s plans until the very end of the regular season.
Still, Mead’s strong production at the plate (.254/.352/.500, 17 home runs) and years of team control was enticing enough for Boston to move on from Early, who impressed in his first full season in the majors with the Red Sox.
In 17 starts this season, Early is 7-5 with a 3.44 ERA, striking out 93 batters over 91.2 innings of work.
But, Early has also been sidelined since late June with elbow inflammation, with the emergence of other young southpaws in Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett also making him expendable in Boston’s rotation.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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