The Boston Red Sox starting rotation, with about six weeks remaining until pitchers and catchers report for spring training, looks like this: Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello, and Johan Oviedo with the No. 5 slot still vacant. Gray and Oviedo are new additions, arriving via trade in late November and early December, respectively. Crochet, of course, is the ace of the staff, the MLB strikeout leader (255) whose 2.59 ERA was third-best in the American League.
But who is the No. 2 starter — the pitcher who can follow Crochet in the rotation without a significant drop-off, and who could start Game 2 of a playoff series? None of the current rotation seems to qualify. But a new trade proposal from a top Red Sox podcast would sacrifice one member of the current rotation to bring in a genuine No. 2 in Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta.
Pat Brown, co-host of the Red Sox podcast “Play Tessie,” affiliated with the team’s radio flagship station WEEI, proposed a trade on Friday’s program that would send Bello, in the third year of his six-season, $55 million contract extension, to the team that led the majors in wins last season with 97, the Milwaukee Brewers.
Bello, in the “Play Tessie” trade proposal, would be packaged with Boston’s No. 10 overall prospect, 17-year-old shortstop Dorian Soto, in a deal that would bring Milwaukee’s 17-game-winning ace Freddy Peralta to Fenway Park.
The return for Boston would also include reliever Abner Uribe, who posted a 1.76 ERA in 2025 on his return from a torn meniscus suffered in a game of hacky sack. But when healthy, the 25-year-old boasts a 100 mph sinker and the potential to fill the closer’s role.
Uribe does not reach his first arbitration-eligible year until 2028. Peralta will pitch the final season of his five-year, $15.5 million contract and will be owed just $8 million in 2026.
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“From Boston’s perspective, you’re getting a front-line starter on a cheap deal whom you’d likely extend, plus five years of control over Abner Uribe, who has been excellent. He’d fit perfectly as a closer-in-waiting behind (Aroldis) Chapman,” Brown explained on the Friday podcast “Play Tessie.”
“Why would Milwaukee do this? The Brewers historically trade rental starters rather than pay them long-term,” Brown continued. “Bello is appealing because he’s cost-controlled through 2030—$6 million this year, then $8 million, $16 million, $19 million, with a $21 million club option. That’s four guaranteed years, potentially five, at below-market rates. Add a high-upside prospect like Soto, and it fits their model.”
Soto was considered “the prize of Boston’s 2025 international class, ” according to MLB Pipeline. The Red Sox signed the teenage shortstop out of the Dominican Republic for a bonus of $1.4 million. SoxProspects.com estimates that Soto will be ready to break into the majors in 2029.
The trade would still leave the Red Sox rotation one pitcher short, while upgrading the spot that follows Crochet. But rookies Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, both of whom saw the big league mound in 2025, would likely compete for the fifth and final rotation spot.
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