Astros’ rumored potential Isaac Paredes trade partner has key hurdle to overcome

Sometimes the ripple effects of one team's actions can provide unexpected opportunities for another. That's exactly where the Houston Astros find themselves after old friend Alex Bregman decided to defect to the Chicago Cubs.

It had seemed like the most likely scenario for Bregman would be to return to the Boston Red Sox. The two sides simply seemed to need each other more than any other alternative. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case. Now the Astros could ride the ensuing wave and solve an issue of their own.

Houston's corner infield logjam has been well-documented. Between Carlos Correa, Isaac Paredes, and Christian Walker, there simply aren't enough at-bats to go around. The Astros would prefer to move Walker, but it takes two to tango, and no one else around the league seems to have any interest in taking the struggling first baseman on.

Bregman leaving the Red Sox in the lurch gives the Astros another pathway to move forward and rebalance their roster. The only problem is, it would mean giving Boston Isaac Paredes. In a perfect world, Houston would be able to hold on to the two-time All-Star, and that could be the sticking point in any deal.

The Astros could have the perfect Isaac Paredes trade partner, but only if the Red Sox are willing to pay up

Paredes offers so much more to the Astros than Walker does, but the same is true for any potential corner-infield-needy team. The Red Sox now jump to the front of this line, but there are questions as to whether or not the two sides could find a deal that fits.

On paper, this should be easy. The Astros need a left-handed bat, preferably one who can play the outfield well, and the Red Sox need a third baseman. The Red Sox have an abundance of outfielders, with Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, and Wilyer Abreu presenting four starting-caliber options for just two spots. That's led Duran and Abreu to be the subject of trade speculation all winter.

However, Boston's mercurial chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, recently said that moving an outfielder was never likely in his mind. That might seem like a negotiating tactic, but remember this is the same man who upset the apple cart with Rafael Devers by signing Bregman last offseason, subsequently traded Devers for pennies on the dollar, and then let Bregman slip through his fingers less than a year later. Master strategist, he is not.

Beyond that, the trade fit seems perfect. Both Duran and Abreu are controllable left-handed hitting outfielders who could balance the Astros' lineup, and Paredes' fly ball-heavy approach would play nicely off the Green Monster while filling the hot corner chasm up in Boston.

Of course, the Astros aren't necessarily shrewd negotiators either, letting a paltry difference in arbitration proposals create tension with Paredes and diminish their leverage in a potential trade.

Logic would dictate that a swap of surpluses between these two clubs would make a ton of sense, but they'll each have to clear the seemingly insurmountable hurdle of using common sense to get a deal done.