SF Giants may have inadvertently triggered major Red Sox-Cardinals trade

They forced the Red Sox into another move.

Nick San Miguel

Colorado Rockies v San Francisco Giants / Lachlan Cunningham/GettyImages

The St. Louis Cardinals continue to trade away some of their top players recently by sending Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox. This move was necessary for Boston after the SF Giants were able to hold onto Bryce Eldridge in the Rafael Devers trade.

Contreras is a former catcher who now primarily plays first base. He slashed .257/.344/.457 with 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in last season. He is not the same hitter that Devers is, but the Red Sox clearly had a need for a power-hitting first baseman after letting Devers go.

SF Giants forced Red Sox to trade for slugger Willson Contreras

The Giants did not want to give Eldridge up in the trade for Devers which is part of the reason why Boston went out and made this move. Had they landed Eldridge in the Devers trade, they likely either would have given him the keys at first base to start the season or they would have signed more of a stopgap option at first if he was not ready.

Maybe they could have had Contreras and Eldridge on the same team and alternated them between first base and designated hitter, similar to what the Giants may try to do with Eldridge and Devers, but that would have been an imperfect fit.

We will have to see how things will work out if the Giants do keep both Devers and Eldridge. If things work out ideally, the Giants will have two left-handed sluggers in the middle of the lineup for years to come.

If they don't, they may end up having to trade Eldridge which is something the team may be exploring as general manager Zack Minasian has said there are no untouchables in trade talks.

However, the fact that the team kept Eldridge when the Red Sox asked for him shows that the team is high on him and his future. The return would probably have to be franchise-altering for the Giants to truly consider it.

The fact that the Cardinals continue to sell off some of their top players could bode well for the Giants, though. Second baseman Brendan Donovan has been connected to the Giants so if they could land him that would be a nice upgrade to the lineup.

The Giants inadvertently got the Red Sox to make this deal, and it will be interesting to see how Contreras fares with Boston and how Devers fares in San Francisco to see which team made the right move.

Nick San Miguel

Nick San Miguel has been writing at FanSided since 2017. He began as a contributor writing about the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and became a Site Co-Expert for AtF in 2024. A die-hard Bay Area sports fan born 10 minutes from Levi's Stadium, he has also written about the San Francisco 49ers for Niner Noise as a contributor since December 2023. In October 2025, he joined Blue Man Hoop as a contributor to write about the Golden State Warriors. He graduated with a degree in History from San Diego State University and is now based out of Chicago. He is the same age as Oracle Park.