Red Sox reportedly trade Connelly Early to Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead

Greg Dudek, Boston Herald on Jul 25, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BOSTON — Just a little over a week before the MLB trade deadline and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow orchestrated what could be the first of many deals late Saturday night.

And it was a stunner, but not for the right reasons.

The Red Sox traded starting pitcher Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The 25-year-old Mead batted .256 with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs to go along with six stolen bases in 86 games with the Nationals this season. Mead played three different infield positions for the Nationals, seeing time at third base, first base and second base. He played the most games (47) at the hot corner this season while seeing substantial time at first (34), but he played sparingly at second (6), a need for the Red Sox.

It’s unclear where Mead projects into the lineup for the Red Sox with Caleb Durbin on the ascent and holding down third base while Anthony Seigler, who had his first career four-hit game Friday night in a win over the Toronto Blue Jays, has been a sparkplug for the team atop the batting order and playing second. All-Star Willson Contreras has first base locked down as arguably Boston’s best hitter.