MLB Trade Rumors: 2 Game-Changing Shortstop Trade Targets For Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox rode a 15-game win streak right back into the playoff hunt and turned themselves from certain sellers to probable buyers at the trade deadline. They currently hold a 2.0 game lead on the rest of the pack for the final Wild Card berth in the AL going into Thursday's play.

Where must Boston upgrade their roster the most? That is answered by Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon in The Athletic: 

"During their 15-game winning streak, which concluded Wednesday night, the Sox played Andruw Monasterio and Tsung-Che Cheng at shortstop and Anthony Seigler and Romy González at second base.

"None is considered an everyday player. All are capable of playing other infield positions."

Add that to the uncertainty of Trevor Story's return—both how soon and how he will perform—and shortstop becomes an area of grave need if the BoSox hope to really be a playoff threat. 

To that end, two realistically obtainable star shortstops could help push Boston over the top:

Zach Neto, LA Angels

Rosenthal & Sammon write that their sources tell them that "The Sox, after expressing interest in the Los Angeles Angels shortstop last offseason, continue to view him as a strong fit, according to people briefed on their discussions."

Neto ranks third among shortstops in all of baseball this season with 19 home runs to go with an American League-leading 69 runs scored. Alas, he also leads the AL in strikeouts, with a whopping 141 through 100 games. That keeps his average down to .238 and his OPS just south of .800, but not by much at .771. 

That's still a huge improvement at short for Boston, which ranks 27th in long balls from the position (just 6), 25th in slugging (.340) and 24th in OPS (.645).

The Athletic writers note that the Angels would certainly want "multiple young players in return for Neto," then go on to mention Marcelo Mayer, who opened the season as the Red Sox’s starting 2B, as potentially being part of the return for LA.

Bo Bichette, NY Mets

Bichette was a serious target for the Red Sox as last offseason's free agency kicked into gear. He ultimately signed that insane three-year, $126 million contract with the New York Mets for an average of $42 million a season. But he's got an opt-out, and he intends to use it, from all accounts, to go back into free agency. 

As a presumed rental, Bichette's trade value isn't astronomical, but for the Red Sox, the impact he could have back in the AL East division could be. Of course, he'd have to play more like the player he was in June (.321, 5 HR, 18 RBIs, .880 OPS) than the one he was for the first two months of the season in New York (.220, .584 OPS), or the one he's been in July (0 HR, 5 RBIs, .670 OPS). 

Will the real Bo Bichette please stand up? With a career .290 average and .791 OPS, perhaps the BoSox, who know all about facing him for all those intradivisional matchups with the Toronto Blue Jays over seven years, would be willing to bet on Bo.