Red Sox acquire third baseman Caleb Durbin, 2 others in trade with Brewers: Sources

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With pitchers and catchers set to officially report Tuesday, the Boston Red Sox have made yet another move to bolster their infield while trading from their pitching depth.

The Red Sox on Monday acquired third baseman Caleb Durbin, infielder Andruw Monasterio and catcher/infielder Anthony Seigler and a competitive balance B round pick in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers got left-hander Kyle Harrison, infielder David Hamilton and left-hander Shane Drohan in the exchange, the sources said.

Durbin, a 14th-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2021 who debuted in the majors last season, hit .256 with a .721 OPS, 11 homers and 101 OPS+ in 136 games. On defense, he saw a majority of his playing time at third base. He also appeared in 10 games at second and three at shortstop. The 25-year-old spent most of his minor-league career at second base, with 153 of 294 games at the position.

Durbin, who hits right-handed, finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting last year and is under team control through 2031. He had minor surgery on his right elbow in October but was expected to be ready in time for spring training.

As the Red Sox sought to upgrade their infield, they remained open to trading from the rotation depth, something they did throughout the winter in acquiring starters Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo. In trading Harrison, the last upper-level player left from the Rafael Devers trade last summer, they continued to mine that area of the roster.

Entering camp, Harrison did not have an obvious big-league rotation spot and likely was set to start in Triple-A Worcester. He spent much of the summer after the deal in Triple A as the Red Sox tried to rework his arsenal. He appeared in three games for the Red Sox late in the season, allowing four runs.

Drohan, Boston’s No. 20 prospect according to The Athletic’s Keith Law, also represented backend starting depth and likely was set to begin the year in Triple A.

Over the past three seasons, Hamilton had been a valuable defensive infielder with tremendous speed who shuttled between Boston and Worcester. But given Boston’s recent influx of infield depth, he became easier to trade. Last week, the Red Sox raised the floor of their infield mix by signing former Gold Glovers Isaiah Kiner-Falefa to a one-year big league deal and Brendan Rodgers to a minor-league deal. They also claimed infielder Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Washington Nationals.

Those moves bolstered Boston’s infield defense, but team sources at the time indicated more was to come. Monasterio and Siegler, acquired from the Brewers, offer more depth for the Red Sox and likely will begin the season at Triple A.

Throughout the offseason, the Red Sox sought to upgrade their infield and began to focus on defense, particularly after failing to sign Alex Bregman and adding free-agent starter Ranger Suárez. According to The Athletic’s Rosenthal and Chandler Rome, the Red Sox were part of a proposed three-team trade earlier this offseason that would have sent infielder Isaac Paredes to Boston, but the deal fell apart.

Now the Red Sox will move forward with Durbin, who could play second or third base, alongside Trevor Story at shortstop and Willson Contreras at first base. Marcelo Mayer will also be in the infield mix — a team source recently noted that the team would prefer him to play third base.