Chaim Bloom's biggest mistake might make a Nolan Arenado trade a non-starter

The Boston Red Sox are one of a few teams linked to Nolan Arenado. They're in need of a right-handed bat which Arenado can provide, even if he isn't great against left-handed pitching. While he's coming off a down year, there's reason to believe playing half the time at Fenway Park and surrounded by better players, he can bounce back in 2025 for a Red Sox team trying to compete.

While the Arenado fit makes some sense on paper, a major mistake that can be traced back to former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom makes him tough to fit in.

In the 2022 offseason, Bloom signed Masataka Yoshida to a five-year, $90 million deal. That decision wasn't nearly as bad as the Mookie Betts debacle, but Yoshida's first two years in Boston have made the contract look like an albatross.

Everything about that mistake might end up making an Arenado deal a non-starter for Craig Breslow and Co.

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Masataka Yoshida's contract and presence make Red Sox trading for Nolan Arenado hard to pull off

Yoshida hasn't been awful during his time in Boston offensively, but his .775 OPS in two seasons is particularly underwhelming when his outfield defense forced the team to hamstring him to DH duties. His lack of defense and slightly underwhelming bat make his contract a bad one, to say the least, especially when he's making $18.6 million annually through the 2027 campaign.

That contract on its own is hard to trade without attaching another player to, and will be even harder to trade knowing that he might not even be able to play on Opening Day as he rehabs from right shoulder surgery.

Assuming they can't trade Yoshida without attaching a prospect to him, the question then becomes, if the Red Sox acquire Arenado, where does everyone fit in? Chances are, Arenado would play third base, moving Rafael Devers either across the diamond to the Triston Casas-occupied first base, or to DH.

Regardless of where Devers plays, Yoshida will be the odd man out due to his inability to play the outfield regularly. Do the Red Sox really want to bench him when he's making all that money? Is Arenado a big enough upgrade to consider benching him?

Red Sox fans would like for the team to sign Alex Bregman not only because he's a better player than Arenado, but he's a better fit due to his willingness to play second base. If the Red Sox are able to flip Yoshida, Arenado makes sense. If not, that's tougher to justify.