Former Brewer wins contentious battle for Opening Day roster spot with Red Sox

It's rare for win-win trades to happen in Major League Baseball — there's often just too many things that can go wrong for either side. And while that still applies to both sides of the Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox's February swap, both teams have to be happy with the early returns.

While Shane Drohan and Anthony Seigler failed to make the 26-man roster in their new homes, both are still on the 40-man and will serve as key depth in 2026. Meanwhile, the stars of the trade, Kyle Harrison and Caleb Durbin, will both take on key starting roles with the Brewers and Red Sox, respectively.

However, it's the secondary pieces of the trade that have really come to life this spring. David Hamilton has looked renewed at the plate, posting a 132 wRC+ in Spring Training to secure his place as Pat Murphy's top utility man. Over in Boston, Andruw Monasterio has used his own hot streak as a launching pad into a surprise Opening Day roster spot.

Andruw Monasterio destined for important role with Red Sox after being crowded out in Milwaukee

Though he isn't set to start on an everyday basis like Durbin is, Monasterio will hold an important role with his new team as a platoon partner for top prospect Marcelo Mayer at second base, and a back-up at several other infield spots.

That position has been a revolving door in Boston for some time, but the arrival of Durbin pushed Mayer off third, allowing Alex Cora to run a slick-fielding tandem at the keystone. While Monasterio won't simply be relegated to work against left-handed pitchers, he has hit them to the tune of a 107 wRC+ throughout his career.

And for those that say Spring Training stats are meaningless, the 28-year-old infielder is a testament to their relevancy. He looked controlled as ever at the plate, slashing his strikeout rate to 18.8% while hitting .293/.375/.415 across 18 games. It's hard to make much more of an impression than that.

The real achievement here is that Monasterio beat out a very crowded bench group for his job, including former top prospect Kristian Campbell, utility men Nate Eaton and Nick Sogard, and otherworldly speed demon Braiden Ward.

Hopefully, Monasterio finds a steady role on his new squad. There's no reason to feel jealous as Brewers fans, given Hamilton's aforementioned breakout and Harrison's potential. The latter did struggle this spring (5.79 ERA over four starts), but he also limited the free passes he issued and struck out nearly one-third of the hitters he faced. Of anyone involved in the trade, his ceiling is the highest.

Opening Day is just around the corner, meaning fans of the Crew won't have to wait long to see Durbin and Monasterio in their new threads. The two teams will meet from April 6-8 when Milwaukee travels to Fenway Park.