No team was less happy with the All-Star break than the Boston Red Sox. Or so it would seem, after they entered the break on a 10-game winning streak but have won just one of five games since returning.
But what may be the most important date of the season for Boston is now just eight days away, and what they do at the 2025 MLB trade deadline July 31 will likely determine whether the Red Sox become a playoff team, or slog through their fourth straight season of mediocrity.
On Wednesday, however, a top MLB insider threw cold water over the team’s — and their fans’ — expectations for what Red Sox chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow will get done at the deadline. In fact, says ESPN.com senior baseball insider Jeff Passan in a roundup of each team’s deadline outlook, Breslow and the Red Sox may “just stand pat.”
In other words Passan believes that, despite recent statements by Breslow saying Boston is “approaching the deadline looking for ways to bolster the team,” the Red Sox may simply do nothing on or before July 31 when it comes to trades — or they may make minor moves at best.
Red Sox Have Urgent Needs for Trade Deadline
Even during their 10-game streak — which saw the Red Sox go from six games off the pace in the American League East and three games out of the third AL Wild Card spot, to just three games out in the division and holding the AL’s second Wild Card berth — the Red Sox exhibited areas in glaring need of an upgrade.
Now that they have fallen to just one-half game up on the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the final Wild Card, those needs become even more urgent.
At first base, after losing Triston Casas for the season with a serious knee injury on May 2, the Red Sox have been featuring Abraham Toro, a seven-year journeyman playing for his fifth different team, who after a productive start has fallen back closer to his career numbers.
On the season, Toro has posted a credible OPS of .743, notably better than his career .652. But over the last seven games, the 28-year-old from Longueuil, Canada, has managed just four hits in 23 plate appearances for a .499 OPS.
Then there’s the catcher position, where backup Connor Wong has yet to notch a single hit with runners scoring position, in 34 plate appearances. Overall, Wong’s numbers have been disastrous, with a .372 OPS and zero extra base hits in 101 trips to the plate.
Even rookie starting catcher Carlos Narvaez has slowed considerably, with just four hits in his last 27 at-bats over eight games.
Boston May Place Higher Value on ‘Efficiency’ Than Trades
What do the Red Sox plan to do about it? According to Passan, very possibly, nothing.
“At this moment, the Red Sox are not inclined to engage in any large-scale deadline moves,” Passan wrote in his Wednesday roundup. “Boston is an organization that deeply values operating efficiently, and a market like this is the epitome of inefficient. Holding now would speak to the Red Sox’s comfort with their current roster and the exceptional price to bolster it.”
However, Passan left open the possibility that, after the stunning trade on June 15 that sent Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, “it would surprise no one” if the Red Sox did, indeed, make at least one major deadline deal after all.
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