Red Sox trade idea swaps Aroldis Chapman for 6.75 ERA Diamondbacks prospect originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Red Sox are 7-11 through the first few weeks of the MLB season, and there are very real concerns about how good this team will be in 2026.

Of course, it’s very early, and things could turn around for the better. But if the losing trends continue, the Red Sox might be in a position to trade away some players at the 2026 MLB trade deadline.

If such a scenario comes to pass, Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report pitched a trade idea that would surely be disappointing for Red Sox fans, as Aroldis Chapman would be dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a 6.75 ERA pitching prospect.

Red Sox trade idea swaps Aroldis Chapman for 6.75 ERA prospect

“To ARI: Aroldis Chapman. To BOS: LHP Kohl Drake (Tier 5),” Rueter writes. “Once upon a time, the Royals turned a two-month rental of Aroldis Chapman into a controllable young starter named Cole Ragans in a 2023 trade deadline deal with the Rangers. Could the Red Sox follow a similar blueprint this summer?”

Boston deciding to trade Chapman if the 2026 season crumbles apart might not be out of the question. It’s not a terrible idea, as Boston could reset at reliever by trading a 38-year-old lefty who might be near the end of his career.

Chapman does have a 1.50 ERA so far this season, which makes the return proposed by Rueter such a disappointment. Sending away Chapman would be giving the Diamondbacks one of the best relievers in the sport.

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In return, the Red Sox would be getting Kohl Drake, a lefty pitcher who is ranked 12th in the D-Backs farm system by MLB Pipeline. Drake is 25 years old and has a 6.75 ERA this season across four starts and 17.1 innings at Triple-A.

His ERA just jumped up a bit after allowing seven runs on April 15th in just 3.1 innings of work. Before that outing, he had a 3.86 ERA. Overall in the minors, the lefty prospect has a 3.99 ERA across 61 appearances and 259.1 innings pitched.

Drake isn’t a top-tier prospect, and the Red Sox landing him as the only prospect in return for Chapman, their 1.50 ERA lefty closer who’s still one of the best in the sport, would be a major letdown.

Boston might be trading Chapman this season if things fall apart, and a return like what Reuter proposed would be a disappointing one. A 25-year-old prospect with a 6.75 ERA for one of the best lefty closers in baseball, even for only a year, is not a great return.