The Red Sox on Thursday suffered their 13th loss in 19 games, throwing a humiliating 17-8 decision to the Rays. Before Red Sox president Sam Kennedy joined the Greg Hill Show on WEEI and expressed optimism that the team could still compete for a playoff spot, he said (via Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com) that “You can run three or four wins and all of a sudden you’re two or three games back in the American League East and anything can happen.”
Kennedy is not wrong, but realistically, this will not be a playoff year for the Red Sox, who sit as the final death in the AL and have to deal with health issues and various roster errors. That, with the August 31 trading deadline, could allow Chaim Bloom-led Red Sox to sell instead of buy over the next few weeks.
As for the deadline, Kennedy of the Boston front office said that “There are talks going on given the condensed season.” As far as trade goes as far as possible, Kennedy remarked without surprise that you should have “Never mark one untouchable,” but he expressed a reluctance to deal with this “Those who grew up in the system.”
Superstar outfielder Mookie Betts grew up in the Boston system, yet the club traded him to the Dodgers throughout the season. However, he was still only a year away from free agency (he has since signed a mega-expansion with the Dodgers). Boston has not had these kinds of worries with its two best players, shortstop Xander Bogaerts and third baseman Rafael Devers, which the organization has developed into superb contributors. The Red Sox have already signed Bogaerts to a six-year, $ 120MM contract for 2019, while Devers will enter into offseason arbitration for the first time. Meanwhile catches Christian Vazquez – another homegrown product – has two affordable seasons on its deal after this one.
Speculative, designated hitter JD Martinez could provide a trading goal for some teams, especially seeing the National League clubs use the DH this season. However, Martinez is expensive because he was on a prated $ 23.75MM salary this season and owed a combined $ 38.75MM from 2021-2022. And the fact that Martinez has an opt-out clause after this season could further complicate matters.
A Martinez trade may not seem very likely, but the Red Sox have clearer trade candidates in a few pending free agents, reliever Brandon Workman and outfielder Kevin Pillar. One of Pillar’s other outfielders, Jackie Bradley Jr., could also wind up on the block, although he has done nothing to increase its value during a failed start to 2020.
