Red Sox acquire Caleb Durbin in trade with Brewers to address their infield

Durbin, who turns 26 on Feb. 22, could fill Boston’s opening at third base created when Alex Bregman left as a free agent to sign a $175 million, five-year contract with the Chicago Cubs.

The Red Sox acquired Willson Contreras to play first base, and Durbin can play second or third. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said the team hadn’t decided where Durbin would play but said he expects him to be a regular starter.

“We’re just excited about getting a really good player into the organization, and we’ll figure out where he fits best,” Breslow said. “It just doesn’t feel like it makes sense to commit to anything right now.”

The 5-foot-7 Durbin batted .256 with a .334 on-base percentage, 11 homers and 18 steals in 136 games while helping the Brewers win a third straight NL Central title and reach the NL Championship Series last season.

Milwaukee acquired Durbin and left-hander Nestor Cortes from the New York Yankees for closer Devin Williams.

The Brewers had the third- and fourth-place finishers in the voting for the 2025 NL Rookie of the Year award that went to Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin, but neither player remains with the organization. Outfielder Isaac Collins, who finished fourth in the balloting, went to Kansas City along with pitcher Nick Mears in a December trade that brought left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa to Milwaukee.

Durbin’s exit from Milwaukee leaves the Brewers with an apparent opening at third. Joey Ortiz was the Brewers’ starting third baseman in 2024 but shifted to shortstop last season. Hamilton, among the players coming over from Boston, played one game at third base last year but primarily has worked at second base and shortstop.

Jett Williams, one of the players Milwaukee acquired in a Jan. 22 trade that sent two-time All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets, also will get some reps at third base this spring training. Williams has played second base, shortstop and the outfield in the Mets organization.

Sal Frelick worked out at third base in spring training in 2024 but won a Gold Glove in right field that year and has remained in the outfield ever since.

Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said the abundance of infield prospects in Milwaukee's talent-laden farm system made the team feel good enough about their long-term future to make this deal.

“You also start looking at the future here with Jesus Made, Cooper Pratt and Luke Adams, Luis Peña and Andrew Fischer, there are just a lot of these types of guys coming we feel like in our system who could absolutely handle the left side of the diamond that have really high upsides,” Arnold said. “We feel like we have the ingredients now to weather the loss of somebody like Caleb Durbin, who obviously meant a lot to our franchise. But we feel really good about the infield depth both now and in the future as well.”

Monasterio, a 28-year-old with experience at every infield position, hit .270 with a .319 on-base percentage, four homers and 16 RBIs in 68 games for Milwaukee last season. Seigler, 26, batted .194 with a .292 on-base percentage, no homers and five RBIs in 34 games.

Harrison, 24, was a combined 1-1 with a 4.56 ERA in eight appearances for the Red Sox and San Francisco last year. He came to Boston as part of the 2025 trade that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco.

Drohan, 27, has never pitched in the majors. He went 5-2 with a 3.17 ERA and 77 strikeouts over 54 innings in 15 combined appearances with Triple-A Worcester and High-A Greenville last season.

“Harrison’s not that far removed from being one of the best pitching prospects in the sport,” Arnold said. “Drohan had an outstanding year last year in Triple-A. Both those guys are really exciting for us to add.”

Hamilton, 28, hit .198 with a .257 on-base percentage, six homers, 19 RBIs and 22 steals for Boston last year. That followed a 2024 season in which he batted .248 with a .303 on-base percentage, eight homers, 28 RBIs and 33 steals in 98 games.

Milwaukee selected Hamilton out of Texas in the eighth round of the 2019 draft, then traded him to the Red Sox in 2021.

“Hamilton’s a guy we know very well,” Arnold said. “He’s an elite baserunner. He's really fast. He's a really good defender. He's an exciting player.”

AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this report.

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