As well as they’ve played recently, most level-headed observers would admit the Red Sox are still at least a year away from true championship contention.
Through his understated trade deadline and in his own words immediately afterwards, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom acknowledged that reality Tuesday as well.
After weeks of speculation over whether the Red Sox would be buyers or sellers, the answer turned out to be neither. The club wound up holding onto all of its big league trade pieces and made a single addition, acquiring infielder Luis Urías from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for low-minors pitching prospect Bradley Blalock.
Bloom said they like the core they’re building and have high hopes for the current group, but he also called the Red Sox “underdogs,” adding they didn’t want to cut corners by making a short-sighted move that wouldn’t help them achieve their ultimate goals.
“Look at the odds, we know what the odds are. We don’t have a playoff spot right now,” Bloom said, adding that he still senses as much confidence in the clubhouse as there’s been since the 2021 playoffs. “Even after these losses I think there’s a confidence in there and a good feeling in there, but we know we’ve got work to do.”
In addition to adding Urias, the Red Sox also traded away veteran utility player Kiké Hernández and added right-handed reliever Mauricio Llovera in the days leading up to the trade deadline. What the Red Sox did not do was reinforce the club’s injury-riddled starting rotation or make any kind of move that could have signaled an unmistakable vote of confidence in the current roster.
It wasn’t for lack of trying, Bloom said, but the reality was the Red Sox wanted controllable players who could help them next year and beyond, not just rentals, and those players would have come with too high a price for a deal to be worthwhile.
“Just because someone would be a great addition doesn’t mean the trade it would take to acquire them would be a good trade, it doesn’t mean it would help us get where we need to go,” Bloom said. “Obviously it takes two to tango and we didn’t find those matches.”
Bloom said the club’s performance over the past few days did not affect the front office’s decision-making, and neither did the imminent return of several key players from the injured list — Trevor Story and Chris Sale among them. By holding on to players like Adam Duvall, Alex Verdugo and James Paxton, the Red Sox are giving themselves a chance to compete, but with the rest of their rivals loading up Boston now has to hope its internal reinforcements will be sufficient.
Regardless, whatever success the Red Sox enjoy in the coming months won’t come at the expense of next year’s team. Bloom made that much clear on Tuesday.
“We’re ready to roll with this group,” Bloom said. “We like where our arrow is pointing and hopefully we can do some special things the rest of the way, and certainly feel very confident we’ll be able to continue building on this next year and beyond.”
Though Urías’ numbers this season aren’t anything to write home about, the 26-year-old infielder has an impressive track record of big league success.
Two years ago the former Brewer batted .249 with 23 home runs and 75 RBI, and last season he hit 17 homers. This year, however, has been a much different story, with the infielder getting off to a rough start and earning a demotion to Triple-A, where he has spent the majority of this season.
Still, Bloom said they believe Urías has turned the corner and believe he’s “a really intriguing talent” with a good deal of upside.
“We’re excited to add him to the mix,” Bloom said. “Fenway should be a good fit for him and someone who if he’s able to get back to who he was is someone we can control for the next couple of years.”
Urías, who bats right-handed, has spent a comparable amount of time playing third base, shortstop and second base in the majors. Though he was optioned to Triple-A upon his acquisition, Bloom expects Urías will factor into the big league equation.
Days after trading Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers, the New York Mets continued their sell-off by sending fellow future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros. The three-time Cy Young Award winner reunites with the club he helped lead to two World Series titles, and he and Scherzer will now go from co-aces of what was supposed to be baseball’s best pitching staff to rivals in a heated AL West race.
The move will be a significant boost for one of Boston’s chief AL Wild Card competitors, and several other contenders made big moves as well.
The Baltimore Orioles added one of the best starting pitchers on the market, acquiring right-hander Jack Flaherty from the St. Louis Cardinals. That came a day after the Tampa Bay Rays also traded for right-hander Aaron Civale in exchange for first base prospect Kyle Manzardo.
The Toronto Blue Jays, who have suffered a couple of significant injury setbacks this week, quickly brought in reinforcements. Tuesday the Blue Jays added shortstop Paul DeJong from St. Louis, who should help fill the void left by Bo Bichette, and they also traded for Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks to fill in for Jordan Romano.
In other notable developments, former Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez also made waves after he reportedly invoked his no-trade clause to quash a deal that would have sent him from the Detroit Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers. His rotation-mate in Detroit, Michael Lorenzen, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.