What the Boston Red Sox do with Franklin Arias this offseason could dictate the future of the team.
Arias is the No. 2 prospect in baseball and is expected to be the shortstop of the future in Boston. However, there were reports that the Red Sox explored trading for an established star shortstop with control. Now, the team has a clear need to upgrade the offense, and trading Arias is still a possibility.
"Some in the organization view Arias as almost untouchable," wrote The Boston Globe's Alex Speier. "In a poor positional free agent class, however, the Sox are unlikely to keep Arias off-limits in trade talks, but they’d only consider dealing him for a star with multiple years of control."
It seems like the team would only trade Arias if they are guaranteed to get a star infielder in return. The offense should be better than last season's simply because the team will be healthy. Curtis Mead and Caleb Durbin give the team some flexibility to explore trading Arias for something other than a shortstop as well.
As far as Trevor Story goes, if Arias is traded for a shortstop, the team still has the designated hitter spot to use to get Story and other infielders regular at-bats.
If Arias is not traded, he, Story, Durbin and Mead could all play every day with the help of the designated hitter spot.