After firing manager Alex Cora in late April, the Boston Red Sox hoped to turn their season around. That hasn’t come close to happening, though, and if something doesn’t change soon, they’re expected to be sellers at the Trade Deadline on August 3rd.
There are a few pieces commonly looked at as trade candidates for the Red Sox. Veteran starter Sonny Gray, closer Aroldis Chapman, outfielder Jarren Duran, and first baseman Willson Contreras are among those names, which could be a problem. Being quoted by Mark Feinsand, one anonymous NL executive looked at what the Red Sox have to offer and explained why it could be an issue for Boston.
“I think a lot of these players have a chance to be difference makers, but here would be my questions if acquiring any of them,” the NL executive said. “You have to treat Sonny and Aroldis as one-year deals, and that’s a big buyout. Would you pay Sonny $20 million for the rest of this year? Aroldis will almost certainly opt out. The Cardinals had a hard time moving Contreras last year; how many teams want that personality on their team at the Deadline? Duran would be a sell-low [option] at this point; he has struggled to hit even though he has had some power.”
Ultimately, none of these obvious trade candidates are the types of candidates to yield massive returns. If the Red Sox hope that being sellers can spark a very quick rebuild, that makes things more difficult.
“Gray’s market will be limited by his salary,” the executive said. “Contreras is an acquired taste, Duran is having a down season, and Chapman will be a rental reliever. The potential returns for that group will be tempered.”
On top of that, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow has been criticized for, among many other things, how he approaches other teams for trades. In particular, not having a realistic view of players’ values. Duran is a common example of that, with it being reported he wanted too much in return for the outfielder to move him in the offseason.
Boston Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy Admits Team May Need to Pivot
GettyBoston Red Sox President Sam Kennedy
It’s rare when a team publicly admits to having an embarrassing season. However, that’s exactly what Boston Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy recently said.
“I think it’s important here at the outset to acknowledge how embarrassing, unacceptable, maddening, frustrating — whatever words you want to use— the past two and a half months have been,” Kennedy said. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. It’s been awful, especially when you consider the stated goal of building upon what happened last season.”
Kennedy made that comment prior to this past weekend’s series against the Texas Rangers, which they’d go on to win. Still, at 29-40, the Red Sox are 13.5 games back in the AL East. That’s not completely out of the playoff hunt, but it’s getting late early for Boston.
Because of those struggles, Kennedy would admit that the Red Sox may need to pivot this season. That means admitting they need to sell at the Trade Deadline.
“At the current moment, there are a lot of discussions going on in terms of improvement and how we get this thing back on track,” Kennedy said. “But look, let’s be honest, unless things change dramatically, we may have to pivot here from what our initial planning was. It just wouldn’t be responsible to do otherwise.”
Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow on His Trade Deadline Approach
GettyBoston Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow
Outside of the Boston Red Sox organization, they’re looked at as sellers. However, for a team with playoff aspirations, selling would be an admission that the season was a failure. That’s not something CBO Craig Breslow, who finds himself on the hot seat, is willing to do just yet.
So, from Breslow’s perspective, it’s still early, and the Red Sox are still in the hunt. Because of that, he isn’t ready to sell yet.
“I think early is probably the right word,” Breslow recently said. “(We’re) having a lot of conversations, a lot of discussions, and I think it’s been kind of true industry-wide. But there are a lot of teams that probably feel pretty similar to us, which is to say that they have confidence in their rosters, they know they’re not playing as well as they’re capable of, and really, nobody is kind of putting the postseason out of reach. So there are a bunch of teams that are in it right now and are thinking along the same lines as we are.”
Regardless, if the wins don’t start coming soon, the Red Sox are going to begin running out of time. It may not be in June, but there is a point in July where Boston’s front office may need to admit it’s time to hit the reset button.
Red Sox Trade Rumors: Why Boston May Have Trouble at the Deadline