You can’t win if you don’t play.
I have so many thoughts about the MLB trade deadline.
Too many thoughts to focus on a one-by-one Smash or Pass approach. Too many thoughts over the front office’s tactics in recent years—how many times am I going to believe, as they tee up the football, that we’re playing together…until I go all-in and end up flat on my back as they yank it away?
Too many teams are still technically in the running to make any helpful predictions; only Craig Breslow manning the phones knows what’s even realistic out there. Except that clearly, it’s the National League teams who are more likely to be sellers at this time. Practically everybody in the American League thinks they still have a chance.
While making the postseason is a huge leap forward and will fulfill (most) expectations, can the Red Sox do better than that? I’ve recovered from my May-through-June pessimism and I’m not panicking post-All-Star break. Reeling off ten games in a row will do things like restore your faith, won’t it?
The front office would do well to capitalize on this energy; show us, and especially the players, that there’s confidence in them. Hey, Christmas in July is a thing; I didn’t make it up.
Craig Breslow and the front office took a bold step by trading Rafael Devers in June. Moves don’t get much bolder than that…unless the front office allows this whole episode to turn into nothing more than two opposing hissy fits. You know that saying, two wrongs don’t make a right?
The front office needs to treat the Devers trade as the momentous occasion—and opportunity—that it actually was. We have to backfill Devers’ lost production anyway—and who knows when the American League will be as wide-open again as it is right now? Why not aim big?
We need a next move, so what’s it going to be? It’s not going to be easy or simple, the way the front office has too often played it.
I’m not sure the Red Sox will win the World Series this year but it seems to me that we can meet expectations by making the playoffs this season, and that we may have a legitimate chance at a trophy over the next couple of years (counting this one) as long as we shore up our existing foundation. That foundation doesn’t involve the sit-back-and-let-it-come-to-us approach that the Sox have employed in recent years. This isn’t a strategy; it’s a form of smoke and mirrors. It has manifested in different ways: saying we’re waiting for our prospects, or we prefer internal solutions like playing Quad-A players, or shuffling players all over the field outside of their position of strength, or keeping wildly unproductive players on the field.
Doing nothing is a choice.
One of my friends has a very reasonable explanation for why the Red Sox might not be buyers in 2025 and that’s because they can point to the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers didn’t do much at the 2024 trade deadline because their strategy was to let their youngsters improve. It’s worked for them in 2025, but we’re not the Tigers.
Potential Moves
So what can we make work?
It sure seems like Atlanta should be sellers but I’m ignoring Marcell Ozuna for the same reason I wasn’t a fan of signing Aroldis Chapman. We could look at their relievers, but we’re in more need of starting pitching and bats.
Starting Pitching, Obviously
Photo by Matt Krohn/Getty Images
But from where? The candidate pool is slim this time around. And personally, I’m not interested in a project, or a long shot coming off the IL. Been there, done that.
Our front office is allegedly not interested in a rental; upcoming free agents need not apply.
What about MacKenzie Gore? He has 2.5 years of team control and is not a project. The Nationals are terrible. Although their new GM says that he’s not actively looking to trade Gore—er, “from the young core”—he also said that he always picks up the phone. There’s room to move there.
Some reports say that Joe Ryan is not going to be available after all unless the Twins are “completely overwhelmed” by an offer. Well, can we overwhelm them? Craig Breslow, that sounds like a project for your big, beautiful, Ivy League brain.
I could settle for Mitch Keller.
First Base Power
There’s no doubt that both Abraham Toro and Romy González have been punching above their weight for most of the season. We can’t keep expecting that, though. It’s time to relieve them before inevitable regression sets in. If you live long enough, you’re the villain. They’ve done too much for us this season to become villains.
I preferred Josh Naylor, but he’s dancing with someone else now, so what about Ryan O’Hearn? He’s an upcoming free agent, so that’s out of the Red Sox comfort zone. I actually like the idea of a long-term signing at first base, given what’s going on with Triston Casas. I love Casas, and he always has a place in my heart, but who knows the player he’ll be when (if?) he returns? Can he win and keep a full-time MLB job? We need to consider options here.
Eugenio Suárez
Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images
I loved him and got a good look at him as a Mariner. He would fit right into our clubhouse, but how could we use him on the field?
- Could he play third while Alex Bregman continues to heal? It’s clear that Bregman is rehabbing as he plays and that might not be the best for him or for the team. Would moving Bregman to DH be less stressful on his body?
- Suárez as DH
Either of those scenarios involves considering Masataka Yoshida. Where does he fit if he doesn’t DH? As I said, this won’t be simple…and with him, it never was.
As tempting as it may be to Alex Cora, let’s not view Suárez as a Swiss Army knife who can be slotted in at first base. We’re looking for bold, not more of the same.
Third base could be a need in 2026 too, depending on what Bregman decides regarding his opt-out clause.
Catcher?
How about another catcher to back up Carlos Narváez? Christian Vazquez is a name that’s been floated recently. I’m not a huge fan of trying to get the band back together or anything like that, and he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season, but Connor Wong has not been able to put it together this year.
Rumor has it that the Mariners’ Harry Ford, who is MLB-ready but blocked by one of my faves, Cal Raleigh, is almost certainly on the move. I doubt we’d look to Ford, given that Narváez himself is a rookie, but in the spirit of being careful what you wish for, I would ask that we don’t trade for Ford. I went to a Mariners event he was at, and as I recall, he spent more time talking about Jesus than about baseball. Leave it at the altar. Pass.
Back to Atlanta; what about Sean Murphy?
Your move, Craig Breslow.