For Red Sox, now is not the time to be sellers
By Joe Meehan
Getting swept by the Cubs is a new low.
Sure they technically have the same winning percentage as the Sox do, but the Sox are a team with playoff aspirations while the Cubs are supposed to be rebuilding. Getting swept just shouldn’t happen.
But ignore that for a minute, because all is not lost. I’m here to encourage you all to hold out hope for a few more weeks. That includes you, Ben Cherington; don’t start trading everyone just yet.
Miraculously, even after getting swept, the Sox are just 8.5 back in the division. Is it a big number? Yes. But no one in this division has proven they have what it takes to run away with it, so I wouldn’t count any team out.
Just three days ago a win would have put the Sox at only 5.5 back. And even then people were talking about raising the white flag and blowing the team up.
But what would that accomplish right now?
We’re exactly four weeks away from the MLB Trade Deadline. There’s plenty of time to make some moves, but there are advantages to waiting.
For one, teams will have a clearer understanding of where they stand and what they need in four weeks. That could allow the Sox, if they’re still in this position, to get a desperate team to hand over a little more than they normally would to help fill a need.
The Sox also might be in a completely different place by then; they could be buyers instead of sellers. Take the Rays as an example. All the talk two weeks ago was about how David Price had pitched his last game as a Ray. Since then, the team has won seven of 10 and five in a row and Price isn’t going anywhere (at least not right now).
A lot can change in two weeks. Do I think the Sox have it in them to rattle off a ten-game win streak? Honestly, no. But it’s worth waiting to find out.
They’re stuck in the middle right now. They’re not definitely out of the race, but they’re not definitely in it either. They could be buyers or they could be sellers.
So let’s give it just a few more weeks so we can have some confidence that we’re making the right moves.